Deadly Class
by fireismyelement97
Summary: Bonnie is a fourteen year old runaway hiding from the police on the streets of New York in 1984. She has a past she can't run fast enough from until one day when she approached to join a school for teenagers like her. At this school, she meets Kol Mikaelson. Deadly Class AU.
1. Chapter 1

***Disclaimer: I don't own TVD or Deadly Class* **

**Author's note: I have aged down all of the characters including Bonnie. Just fair warning, this fic is going to be dark so if you are looking for fluff, I recommend my other Kennett fic, Timeless. **

Bonnie Bennett roamed the streets of New York. The rain was pouring down and she needed to find a place to sleep. This ally looked promising, she found a place that was semi-secluded from the rain. She laid down on the hard ground, switchblade in her hand.

She couldn't go back to the shantytown tonight. _He _would be looking for her. First thing tomorrow, she needed to get out of town, but she couldn't travel at night it was too dangerous. Both because there was less travelers so someone was more likely to recognize her and because other more dangerous predators travelled at night. And though Bonnie wasn't prey, she was usually mistaken for it.

The rain chilled her and she coughed. It felt like half the night passed before she drifted to sleep.

Bonnie woke again because someone was digging through her pockets. She shot awake and lashed out blindly with her knife. At this point, Bonnie no longer needed to press the button to eject it. It happened on its own.

A girl screamed and ran. Bonnie gave chase and threw herself at the girl. They both landed on the ground and struggled.

It ended in seconds and Bonnie quickly realized the girl she was pinning down was a prostitute. She used to work for a guy named Luca. Until Luca tried to turn Bonnie into one of his girls and she slashed his throat with his knife.

Yesterday.

"Please, I just need a few bucks!" the girl cried. "Luca's brother thinks I killed him because I found him."

Bonnie felt nauseous. "Does he know I did it?"

The girl shook her head. "I need to skip town, please. I didn't rat you out."

An act, which Bonnie saw had cost her. There was a large bruise forming under her eye. She remembered suddenly, this was the girl she had pushed aside when she fled the alley covered in Luca's blood.

"Take it and go," Bonnie said.

She got up and watched as the girl ran away.

Bonnie went back to the place she had been sleeping in. she was broke again, but he could hitchhike in the morning if she needed to.

XXX

The next morning, Bonnie was both exhausted and broke. After the girl robbed her, she had slept fitfully.

Bonnie snuck into the restroom at a nearby convenience store. She cleaned herself up and washed her clothes in the sink. Then she dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a fresh purple sweater. She had stolen the outfit from Forever 21 last week. She applied some lipgloss and mascara. Living on the street meant she couldn't get her hair relaxed, she just could not spare the money. So she used some oil (also stolen) to pull her curls up into a tight ponytail. Now, she looked like any of the high school girls in New York.

Afterwards, she trudged down to the freeway. She stuck her thumb out and waited.

Almost no time passed before a black Maserati pulled over. The window rolled down and Bonnie saw a stylish blonde girl was behind the wheel. She flashed a wicked smile.

"Going out of town?" the driver asked with a posh British accent.

"Yeah."

"Get in."

Hesitating, Bonnie checked that her switchblade was still tucked in the back of her jeans. Even if this girl was trouble, Bonnie could handle her.

Bonnie got in. "Thanks."

The girl started driving. Bonnie was tempted to relax. The car's leather interior and the smooth purr of the engine was soothing. It was the nicest surroundings, she'd had in months, but if there was one thing Bonnie had learned was that she could not ever let her guard down. If people were nice, it was because they wanted something.

Men they only wanted one thing. But the women on the street were equally dangerous. They wanted money and were willing whatever it took to get it. Some stole and Bonnie had heard the stories about the ones that supplied girls to pimps and human traffickers.

"You look pretty good for a street kid," the blonde said with a sideways look. "I'm Rebekah."

"I – I don't live on the streets."

Rebekah snorted. "Of course, you do," she rolled her eyes. "Why else would you hitchhike alone with no particular destination?"

That was a reasonable deduction. It put Bonnie at ease. For a second there, Bonnie had thought she would have to stab Rebekah.

"Hm," Rebekah pursed her lips and surveyed her. Bonnie's heart started pounding. Would Rebekah recognize her from the news? Every cop on the city was looking for her. "What's your name?"

"Sheila."

Which wasn't technically a lie. It was her middle name.

"Sure, Sheila," Rebekah snorted. Bonnie was starting to get antsy. "What are you running from?"

"Everything."

"Vague."

Rebekah turned back into the city. She started driving down a small, crowded road in Chinatown. It filled Bonnie with fear.

Bonnie grabbed the handle, ready to throw herself out the car. It filled Bonnie with fear. The locks slammed on.

Bonnie whipped her switchblade out. Rebekah was completely unimpressed, she scoffed and rolled her eyes. Bonnie stabbed at her. Rebekah caught her wrist and twisted. The knife fell to the floor of the car.

Rebekah slammed her face into the dashboard and Bonnie blacked out.

XXX

Bonnie woke with her hands tied to a chair. There was something covering her face. She struggled to breathe and get loose.

"I'm telling you, Kol. She's a stone cold killer," Rebekah said.

She sounded close.

"She doesn't look like much," a male voice with a British accent said.

"She tried to cut my throat!"

"So?" another male voice said chortling. "I want to do that least three times a week."

"That's because you're an unhinged sociopath, Kai," Rebekah drawled.

The hood was pulled from her face. Bonnie was blinded. Then it passed and she was able to take in her surroundings.

Standing in front of her was a group of five teenagers. Rebekah a tall brown haired boy with dark eyes. Next to him was a tall lean boy with black hair. There was a girl with curls and a sulky expression. Then there was a black man with a killer smile.

"Where the hell am I?" Bonnie hissed.

"Oooh, scary," the brunette girl mocked.

"Are you a killer?" the boy with the British accent asked. He crouched down in front of her. "She is pretty," he said over his shoulder.

"Yean and angry," Kai said bouncing on the balls of his feet. "What do you think sissy, killer or nah?"

The girl that looked like Kai came forward to look her in the eyes.

"No, just a scared little girl that had to kill to protect herself. Not King's material."

"I agree with you, Jo," the curly haired girl said tossing her hair. "She'll be dead in a week."

"Never thought I'd see the day we would agree, Katherine," Jo said.

Bonnie felt exposed. How did they know all of this? How could these girls just look into her eyes and know she was scared, not a true killer? Because she had to be one. Convincing herself she was a cold-blooded killer was the only way, she had managed to live with herself and stay alive on the streets.

If she wasn't a killer, what was she? Some fucked up kid?

No, Bonnie wouldn't accept that. So she schooled her expression into a cold mask.

"I'll kill all of you."

"Oh, I like her. Can we keep her?" Kai mocked.

The rest of them all laughed, but Kol was studying her. He looked her up and down before smirking.

A woman stepped into the room. It was first then, Bonnie realized she was in the back room of what looked like an Asian grocery store. The woman was Asian and was dressed in head to toe black. Leather pants and a leather jacket. There was a 6 foot sword hanging from her back.

"Forgive me students, they forget that viciousness only serves to make them look weak. I am Pearl. The headmistress of King's Dominion."

"Am I supposed to be impressed?"

What the hell kind of weird brothel was this woman running? Wait – headmistress was it some kind of freaky internet webcam porn? Because with a warrant out for her arrest there was no way any real school would take her.

"Tell me, Bonnie," Pearl said slowly. "Are you satisfied with your life?"

"Yes, I love living on the streets. Sleeping in the gutter and fighting off pimps. It's perfect."

Pearl smiled and it was a cruel smile, devoid of warmth and amusement.

"I run a school that trains creative problem-solvers."

"Assassins," Rebekah interjected with an air of smug superiority.

"Yes," Pearl said with an annoyed look at her student. "You're particular talent will be nurtured there. Honed until you're one of the deadliest people in the world. As for your problems with the law – well," she sighed. "You will be safe at King's Dominions. So what will it be?"

"You know this is insane, right? A school for professional assassins, I mean what even is that?"

She looked at the teenagers again and discovered they were all wearing uniforms. Navy blue uniforms with red lapels and matching ties. Their shirts were all a crisp white and the girls wore pleated skirts.

"Oh, it's real, Bonster," Kai said with a chipper smile. "Are you in or out?"

For some reason, Bonnie's eyes landed on Kol. He smirked at her and there was something of a challenge in his eyes. Bonnie weighed the possibilities. Keep living on the streets until the police caught up with her, which would happen sooner or later. Or she could join a school for assassins. One that could protect her from the police. Since she didn't like the idea of spending the rest of her life in prison, the choice felt simple.

"Yeah, I guess I'm in. not like I have anywhere else to go."

XXX

An hour later and Bonnie was in Pearl's office. She had given her a wooden box with two new uniforms.

"King's Dominion was founded by my grandfather. He came to America like many other Chinese to find a better life. Instead, what he found was a nightmare of oppression and endentured servitude."

"The American dream," Bonnie mumbled.

Peral gave her an assessing look. "So my grandfather taught himself to kill. He used that skill for a purpose and founded this school to help the oppressed fight back. Since then our focus has broadened, but I have never forgotten our purpose. So I select students such as you."

"But why me?"

"Why you?" Pearl raised an eyebrow as if it should be obvious. "You have rage and justifiably so, I daresay. Here I can help you hone it, weaponize it. I will give your rage a voice loud enough to be heard around the world."

Bonnie couldn't help herself, she smiled.

"Some people deserve to die," Pearl said. "But you already know this."

Bonnie thought about it. The men that ruined her life had deserved it. Those that dismissed her claims of self-defense in spite of all evidence to the contrary. They tried to put her on trial, did they deserve to die as much as the men she murdered? For systematically persecuting and dismissing victims like her? Maybe.

XXX

Bonnie took a hot shower in the morning, the first one in six months. Then she got dressed in a broomcloset. It was serving as her room until she got assigned a dorm. It might only be a janitorial closet that smelled of cleaning products and have an uncomfortable cot, but to her it was heaven.

Feeling uncertain, she checked her switchblade. Still tucked in the back of her skirt. Ever since _that _night, Bonnie had not goen anywhere without it.

She looked around the hallway only to find Rebekah leaning against the wall. She smirked and studied Bonnie.

"You should buy some makeup now that you're off the streets, you'll want a look that says killer."

Bonnie didn't think there was anything wrong with a bare face, some mascara and a nude lipgloss.

"I'm not big into makeup."

Rebekah frowned. "Don't be dense, little."

"Litlte girl?" Bonnie hissed.

Rebekah ignored her. "Paint on a mask because your rep has already spread. Half the class is terrified of you and the other half wants to test you."

"Uh-huh."

Bonnie was aware her reputation had spread. Pearl had warned her about that last night. Along with the rules at King's Dominion.

No disobedience.

No drugs.

No sex.

Do not reveal the school's location.

Do not murder the other students.

"Just some friendly advice," Rebekah curled her fingers in a friendly wave and left.

Bonnie waited until she was gone before following.

The school's hallways were crowded, filled with students in matching uniforms. Bonnie made her way to the library, all too aware of the stares that followed her. Some even called out killers.

"Killed your own father?" one girl shouted. "You're dead, bitch," she added a racial slur Bonnie had never been called before.

Bonnie ignored her and kept going. If she concentrated this was just like her old school, Mystic Falls. Teenagers were all the same. The only difference was these ones were professional murderers in training.

The librarian was a shrunken old lady. She gave Bonnie books about poison, bomb-making, warfare, human psychology and an arsenal of weapons. She put in her backpack. Even though, she was now armed to the teeth, she still preferred her switchblade.

Bonnie's first class of the day was poison. The teacher was a woman named Meredith Fell that had spent years of life posing as a specialist doctor. Apparently, it was how she gained access to most of her targets.

"Tell me what poison makes a statement?"

Kai, who was in the seat next to her, leaned in to whisper to her. His closeness freaked her out. "Get Damon's attention for a minute, would you, Bonster?"

"Who?"

"The guy in front of you," Kai said looking at her as if it was obvious.

Bonnie eyed him. She made sure to move away from him. His close proximity was starting to make her panic. She could already feel her heart pounding in her chest.

"Why?"

"Because I'd owe you one and in this place that's worth something."

"Fine."

Bonnie knocked the book in front of her down. Damon turned around when it hit the floor.

"Could you pick it up for me?" Bonnie asked tensing.

If she were a different kind of girl, she might be able to flirt with him to get her way, but she wasn't. and she hated it when men looked at her like an object. Some kind of prize to be won.

Damon's eyes trailed along her legs and smirked. Bonnie resisted the urge to kick him in the face.

"Sure thing."

Just as Damon was reaching for her book, Jo moved Damon's soda can within reach of Kai. Kai used a dropper and slipped a few drops into Damon's soda can. By the time, Damon put her book on her desk, it was done and his soda was back in place.

"Why do we use poison?"

The girl next to Damon raised her hand.

"Yes, Jo."

Meredith pointed to her.

"To send a message. No one is safe."

"Very good."

Damon's stomach gave a large lurch. The whole class started to laugh. The laughter grew even louder when it happened again.

Damon raised his hand. "I need to use the bathroom."

"No," Meredith said. Damon's stomach rumbled again. "Sit down."

Meredith approached Damon and Jo's workstation. She smelled his soda. "Pay attention class, Damon invited this attack with his arrogance. Always remember this Damon."

Damon's stomach gave in and a foul smell filled the room. Bonnie covered her nose. Kai was laughing maniacally.

"You get a mop," Meredith said putting the soda can in front of Kai.

XXX

After lunch, Bonnie went to her locker. Inside of it there was a doll with a knife in it. There was a note attached.

_Father killer. _

The word is patricide, Bonnie thought.

"Just a friendly greeting from the local Nazis," Kol said.

Bonnie looked over and saw he was leaning against the locker next to hers.

"Okay,"

"Don't let them bother you."

"Uh-huh, tell them the word is patricide," Bonnie eyed him skeptically. "Are you one of them?"

He looked genuinely offended. "I'm from a different crime syndicate, love. We're the Originals."

Now Bonnie was genuinely confused.

She started to walk away. A heavy hand landed on her shoulder.

"Baby girl –"

Bonnie didn't let him finish his sentence. In a split second, her switchblade was out. She whirled around and shoved him against the lockers. She pressed the blade against his jugular. It was first then, she saw it was the black boy that had been present yesterday when she was recruited.

"Don't ever touch me," Bonnie hissed.

She heard a chuckle. She glanced over and saw it was Kol. He gave her a little wave with his fingers.

"Relax, baby girl –"

Bonnie pressed the knife into his flesh. "Don't call me 'baby girl'. What do you want?"

"I was going to recruit you to join my crew. You would be safer with your own people, but since you have a knife at my throat, that's gone."

He pushed her back and walked away. He turned around and shouted: "You're dead, psycho."

Kol sauntered over to her. "Shouldn't have done that. Joining a gang is mandatory for survival at King's Dominion."

"I don't do groups."

"Suit yourself. Watch your back, hot head."

Kol walked away.

Bonnie went to her next class, hand-to-hand combat. The traditional Gui, she was wearing had been difficult to tie, but she finally worked it out.

The teacher was a stern woman that talked a lot about finding an opponent's weakness. Then she told them to pick a partner and find their weakness.

Rebekah grabbed her as a partner.

"How's your day going?"

"Someone got poisoned in Poison class."

Rebekah had her in a headlock. Her heart was pounding and she was fighting every instinct she had to kill Rebekah. Touch did that, it triggered bad memories and made her lash out on pure instinct.

"Welcome to King's," Rebekah tossed her aside. "Heard you crossed Marcel today."

"He shouldn't have touched me."

When Bonnie hit the floor, she saw Damon and Kai were wrestling. It looked like Kai was about to break Damon's arm.

"Why? You seem to make a good rag doll," Rebekah said smirking.

"What's up with that?" Bonnie nodded toward the two boys.

"Oh, them," Rebekah rolled her eyes. "They're always at each other's throats."

Class ended and Bonnie made her way to the cafeteria. All around her were tables filled with hostile students. She saw a few familiar faces.

Marcel ran his finger along her throat. His eyes were hard and merciless. But if he came for her, he would be in for a nasty surprise.

She scanned the cafeteria for an empty table. She spotted one near Marcel's group and sat down facing him. She would be stupid to give him the chance to sneak up on her.

It was only lunch time and she had already seen that at King's Dominion, the knife in your back was real.

The lunch here was better than anything she had eaten in weeks. She forced herself not to scarf down the dumplings. Instead, she ate them slowly, savouring each bite.

A short, plump and very pretty girl flopped down across from her. She had long curly black hair and big blue eyes.

"You must be the new girl. I'm April Young," she said between mouthfuls of wanton soup.

Bonnie didn't say anything.

April seemed a little uncertain, but still carried on. "So word is the Nightwalkers are out for your blood."

"Who and why?"

"Wow, you really are new," April said. "Marcel and his group. Mostly black kids with OG parents from the ghetto."

"Oh, yeah, that."

"Heard you blew it big time when he tried to recruit you."

"I don't do gangs."

"I would if I could. Here, let me tell you how this place works."

"Sure," Bonnie mumbled.

Truth was, she wasn't overly interested in how King's Dominion worked. She was only here to stay out of prison and to get a ticket to some kind of future. Which was more than she'd had on the streets.

"Marcel's guys, the Nightwalkers are fourth on the totem pole so you could have bigger problems."

Bonnie looked at the table and noticed for the first time, they were almost all black. Except for a petite brunette that sat next to Marcel.

She looked toward the table with Kol and Rebekah. It too was crowded, all white people. They all gave off a vibe of smug superiority that made Bonnie want to start shit with them too.

"That's the Originals as in the Original crime syndicate. Number one at school and the world. Run by siblings. See the guy with the curly haired brunette hanging around his neck?"

Bonnie nodded.

"That's Elijah Mikaelson. He's a senior. When he leaves, he's going to help his brother take over for his father. There's a war between Klaus and Kol, which brother takes Elijah's place at King's. Smart money's on Kol, he's a total psycho. And if I were you, I'd stay out of their way."

"Okay, what about Kai?"

Kai was at a table with his sister and a group of kids, she didn't recognize.

"The Coven. His twin sister Jo is his second in command. They're the kids of some psycho cult leader. Mass suicide. The twins are the only survivors. Rumor has it the rest of Kai's siblings survived too, but Kai went on some kind of rampage killing all of them. I've heard he is a diagnosed sociopath."

Just then Kai looked over. He smiled and winked. Looking at him now, Bonnie believed the rumors.

"Creepy, who else?"

In spite of her better judgement, Bonnie was getting more interested in hearing the stories of her classmates. Some of this shit was so fucked up, it might even trump hers.

"The Salvatore brothers, Stefan and Damon," April said glancing at them subtly out of the corner of her eye. "Pretty low on the totem pole, but not as low as Hayley and the Dixie Mob."

"Who and is that what I think it is?"

"Our local radical nazis."

"Yeah, Kol mentioned them. They've left me a gift."

"Oh that's bad," April said her eyes large and worried. "Anyway, there's the Yakuza kids. Pearl's daughter Anna is their leader. Don't ask me why a Chinese girl is leading the Japanese mob because I don't know. That's basically everyone of note."

"Got it, thanks."

"No problem. You're like me, a rat."

"Excuse me?" Bonnie hised sitting up straighter. She was ready to lunge at April, if she tried anything.

"Calm down," April rolled her eyes. "It means you're like me. You have no affiliation and you're not a Legacy, you're the first in your family to attend King's Dominion."

"Great."

Typical Bonnie Bennett luck.

"You should hang with us on the school roof. It'll keep you safe. As safe as any rat gets at King's anyway."

"No, thanks. I'm not a group person."

"It was nice to meet you. Too bad you won't survive until graduation."

Bonnie waved when April left.

XXX

Bonnie found AP Black Arts the most fascinating so far. Maybe it was because Pearl was the teacher or maybe it was the topic, but Bonnie was riveted.

"Who do you choose as your victim? The corrupt politician…"

Hayley, one of the nazies slipped a piece of paper onto her desk. It was a folded note. Pearl didn't stop talking, but she did hit Hayley in the face with the pointing stick she used for the blackboard.

Blood spurted from Hayley's face. Bonnie gasped in surprise and disgust. The rest of the class jumped, but didn't react much. Kol laughed and so did a few others.

Hayley mouthed 'open it' at her.

Was this normal at King's Dominion? With shaky fingers, Bonnie opened the note.

_You're gonna die, father killer. Black bitch! _

The note was covered in Swastikas. It was also a fairly terrible threat as far as threats went.

Bonnie closed it and instead tried to focus on Pearl's lecture.

"Who you choose as your victim will tell me everything I need to know about, who you are. Pick a lab partner. Comb the city and find a target."

Rebekah raised her hand. "Any victim?"

"No," Pearl's lips curled into an indulgent smile. "A random victim will tell me nothing. Find someone you believe deserves to die. Hide the body, dispose of the evidence. Most importantly, bring me proof. It's worth half your grade this semester. Fail and you will die in their place."

The bell rang and the class dispersed. Bonnie looked around for a partner. Her first instinct was to partner with Rebekah. She didn't seem interested in killing Bonnie or anything else creepy.

Unfortunately, Kol appeared next to her desk. His hair was artfully disheveled and he wore a wicked smile. One that in the past might have made her blush. Now, it filled her with dread.

"Partner with me, love?"

His accent, Bonnie thought and his voice, it was hypnotic. But she was not about to be charmed, especially not by a trained killer.

"Only if you don't call me love. Like ever again."

Kol rolled his eyes. "As if I cannot think of more nicknames for you. Anyway, wear black and meet me out back in an hour."

"Alright."

Bonnie didn't get far after AP Dark Arts. As she approached the dormitories a tall, skinny, black girl blocked the door. She tossed her curls, crossed her arms and smirked sinisterly.

"What?" Bonnie said making sure to keep the knife out of sight.

"You threatened Marcel."

"So you're a Nightwalker. Your boy, Marcel? He shouldn't have snuck up on me."

"Cute, I'm Katie. Just thought you should know the name of your killer."

Adrenaline coursed through her body. Her heart was pounding so loud she could hear it. Her palms were sweaty and her body shook.

Katie lunged at her. Bonnie whipped out the knife. She slashed aiming for Katie's throat, but Katie was ready for her. She blocked the move. She pulled out a pair of nunchucks and hit Bonnie's hand.

Bonnie screamed and dropped her switchblade. Katie hit her in the throat with her nunchucks. She gasped for air. Katie knocked her to the ground. She grabbed a fistful of Bonnie's hair and slammed her head against the concrete cement. Stars danced behind Bonnie's eyelids and she started to pass out.

**Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think of this chapter. I know there isn't a lot of Kennett interaction, but next chapter is going to be Kennett heavy. What do you think of the premise? Is it too dark? Personally, I love me some angst. I'm fireismyelement97 on tumblr if you want to leave me a drabble request. **

**Izzy **


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2 **

**Sorry about the wait and fair warning this is a dark fic. Shout to all the other Deadly class fans that are disappointed the show was cancelled. Also shout out to all my other fellow retail works, Black Friday is the worst day of the year, am I right? *hugs all of you* **

Kol came out in the courtyard just in time to see Katie wailing on Bonnie. It looked as if Bonnie had passed out. Surprised, Kol realized Katie was seconds away from killing the poor girl.

Typical Marcel. He never hit girls however, he was not above sending one of his flunkies to do his dirty work. Kol could admire the tactic. Getting someone else to do the work had its charms however, Kol preferred to force his victims to hurt each other. The psychological damage alone was worth it.

"Katie," Kol said as he strolled over. "As much as I enjoy a good cat fight, it's a lot less sexy when one of the girls is unconscious."

Katie stopped what she was doing. She looked up at him with wide, fearful eyes. "Why do you even care?"

"She's my lab partner and if she dies before we complete this assignment, I'm fairly certain Pearl will fail me."

"Oh my God," Katie gasped in a shaky voice.

Katie climbed off Bonnie in a hurry.

"Get out of here," Kol said completely exasperated. "I don't have time to deal with you. I have an assassination to attend to."

Katie ran away.

Kol pocketed Bonnie's knife. He picked her up and carried her to his room as he wasn't certain where she was rooming or if she had a first aid kit in hers. Probably not from what he had seen of her life on the street.

He lay Bonnie down on the bed. If it wasn't for the bruises forming on her neck, she could have been asleep.

Not for the first time, Kol noticed the long white scar on the inside of her thigh. He had seen it in AP Black Arts and when she walked past him in the hallway. Her skirt rid up just enough to reveal a scar. It looked as if it had been caused by a knife. As he examined the injury on the back of her head, he saw also had small white scars on her throat. He frowned. He had seen ones like this before.

Cigarette burns.

Once again, Kol found himself wondering exactly had happened to Bonnie. He had a few theories and they all seemed too cruel to inflict on a girl such as her.

He used the med kit he kept in his room to clean the wound at the back of her head. The cut wasn't large or deep, she would have a bump for a few days, but it was not serious. Doubtful, she would even have a concussion when she woke. Judging by the bruises on her neck, it wasn't the head injury that knocked her out. It looked to him as if she had passed out from a lack of oxygen.

Deciding to wake her, he held smelling salts under her nose. Bonnie's eyelids fluttered. She opened her eyes and immediately scrambled away from him. He sighed at her skittishness.

Kol took the knife out and tossed it on her lap. "There you are, my sweet. No need to thank me for my dashing heroics."

"That Katie bitch is strong," Bonnie said rubbing her neck. "Why'd you help me?"

"We're lab partners and don't get used to it. At King's kindness is weakness. Not that I need to tell you, you've got the whole bitchy thing down. Especially, the stab first, ask questions later routine. Although a word of advice, it's a little trite."

"Dick," Bonnie muttered.

"How's your head?"

"Feels like a crazy bitch cracked my skull open."

"Here," Kol took out a dose of morphine and a syringe. He stabbed the dose of morphine with the syringe and filled it up.

"What is that?"

"Morphine. It'll wear off by morning."

"I can't be drugged up, we have an assignment."

"Relax, I'm going to give you a small dose," he rolled his eyes. "Freshmen."

"The rules are no drugs and why didn't you take me to the infirmary?"

"One, Pearl will never know. Two, if Peal finds out about this, she will start to intervene and that will only make matters worse for you. If you have teachers following you, their attacks will grow more vicious when they are given the opportunity. I've seen it happen."

"They already want to kill me."

Kol gave her a look.

Bonnie sighed. "The Nightwalkers are going to keep coming for me, aren't they?"

"Until you are dead or they are."

Kol pushed the sleeve of her shirt back and was astounded by how fast she pulled her arm back and had the knife aimed at him.

"Don't touch me."

Kol noticed her forearm was sprinkled with scars from cigarette burns even a few that looked as if they had been caused by knives. Bonnie didn't seem to notice how he studied the scars, she was too busy studying him to see if he was a threat.

"What happened to you?"

Bonnie's green eyes were hard as stone. "None of your business."

"Fine, but we have to do this assignment, which isn't going to happen if you're in agonizing pain. And you might as well let me help you now because you're a rat. The only thing that might keep you alive is an even more terrifying rep than Marcel has."

"I think my rep is what got me in trouble."

"No, your switchblade did. Lucky for you, I'm more secure in my masculinity than Marcel. Otherwise, I might take offence at the way you're aiming it at me."

Bonnie looked down at the knife. She nibbled on her bottom lip as if trying to decide whether or not she was going to put it away.

"I'm not going to close it, but you can give me the morphine shot."

Bonnie held her arm out to him. Kol was careful not to touch her any more than necessary. He wiped off a patch around her veins. He lightly touched her arm, her skin was warm and soft. He didn't miss how she tensed under his touch.

Kol pricked her arm and injected her with a dose of morphine. Almost instantly, her eyelids fluttered shut and she fell back asleep. He checked her pulse and draped a blanket over her sleeping form. She had dark circles under her eyes and was skinnier than she should have been.

Poor girl.

Kol decided to use his connection in the police department to learn precisely what happened to put Bonnie on the streets. He knew the media's version that she was a psychotic killer, who had simply snapped. Having watched her on the streets for months, he knew that was not true.

Before he left, he locked the door behind him. He wasn't concerned with Bonnie leaving. With that dose of morphine, she should be out for a long time. He was more concerned with one of the Originals going to look for him and finding her there. It would be difficult to explain and it would certainly appear as if he had feelings for her. He didn't have them, he was a Mikaelson and did not catch feelings. But it would be imprudent to appear as if he had.

Bonnie was an attractive girl, but that was where his interest ended. Along with his wish to protect her because he knew whatever had happened to her, she hadn't deserved it. Probably her life was ruined as a result and he felt compassion. He had watched the light die from Rebekah's eyes as they aged and he hated that something worse had happened to another innocent girl.

The world was a cruel place. Kol had learned that long ago. And he had allowed that knowledge to make him cruel, but for girls like Bonnie and Rebekah, he wished it wasn't so. Which was why he set out to get the assassination out of the way and allow the girl some rest.

XXX

Bonnie woke feeling bleary-eyed and slow. Her head felt too heavy for her neck and she was immediately alarmed. She knew this feeling, she'd been drugged.

The morphine, the morphine shot Kol gave her. It hadn't been a small dose. He had knocked her out on purpose. But what for?

She looked around his room, it was empty. All there was left was his things, his band posters and weapons were scattered around the dorm room. There were books as well and clothing. She was surprised to see he had such a large room to himself. Guess being a Mikaelson did have sway at King's. Looked like Pearl hadn't been entirely honest with the whole fight back against your oppressor thing.

No, Kol in sight and she only hurt a little, but that was from Katie's beating. If he had done something else, she would have known. Would have recognized the feeling, but just to be safe, she checked her outfit. Still fully dressed.

So Kol hadn't intended to hurt her. Just beat her to the mark. Well they'd see about that. Once upon a time Bonnie would have been shocked by the callousness and the insanity of this act. Racing another assassin to kill a pimp. But not anymore. Her life had been too strange for too long now to question anything.

Bonnie got to her feet, tucked her knife into her waistband and climbed out his window. She didn't have time to waste and she couldn't risk running into anyone else from the school.

Bonnie ran through the city, keeping to the back alleys until she arrived outside of his apartment. Once there, she found a rooftop to watch from. When the lights in the apartment turned off, she saw Kol climb through the window.

How did he know, Bonnie would choose Luca's brother as her victim? Did Kol just happen to despise pimps? Because she was here for her own safety – hers and any other girl he and Luka had hurt.

Without thinking, Bonnie raced inside of the apartment. She crept in through the same open window Kol had gone through and was convinced she was too late. She'd had to make it down a sixth-floor building and across the street. Then climb the fire escape and there was a good chance, Kol had already secured the kill for himself.

But when she made it inside of the apartment, she saw Kol had tied him to a chair. He struggled with a gag in his mouth. Kol turned around, baseball bat held high. When he saw it was her, he relaxed. He lowered the bat and a dazzling smile lit his face.

"Bonnie my sweet, I thought for sure the sedative would keep you out for a few more hours," Kol told her with a cheeky grin. He looked her over and her expression hardened. She was not the same girl, who would have once swooned at a smile like that. "You don't weigh a whole lot. It should have been enough."

"Why did you knock me out?"

"Huh, must have miscalculated the dosage. Blast, that'll be the last time I use Nik's notes."

"Why did you dose me?" Bonnie growled repeating her question. She was starting to lose patience.

"Isn't it obvious?" Kol said then shrugged when she continued to stare daggers at him. "I guess not. You looked as if you could use the rest."

"That is none of your business and I am not failing this class."

"Relax, darling," Kol chuckled easily. "I was planning on telling Pearl we did this together."

"Why? Why would you do that?"

Anger was starting to give way to genuine confusion. Nothing about Kol added up.

"You're a pretty girl."

Bonnie stared at him, fear coursed through her and she took a step back.

"Stay away from me."

"Relax, darling," he repeated with an eye roll. "I've no intentions of hurting you."

She was still eyeing him suspiciously. "Then what do you want?"

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

"That's what I thought, you're even younger than my sister," he gave her a serious look. "I don't know precisely what has happened to you however, I thought you could use some sleep and a break from murder. But I wasn't going to let you fail."

Bonnie snorted. "I've been on the streets for months, I don't even remember what a break feels like. But I do know I don't trust guys, who dose you. No matter their reasons."

"At King's you'd be a fool to trust anyone."

"Great, now are we doing this is or what?"

Kol looked between her and the tied-up man.

"You've got to be joking."

"No, I'm deadly serious," she growled. "And how did you know to come here?"

"Pearl had me track you down, I found you here after you killed his brother. I presumed you would want the second pimp out of the way as well. Self-preservation and all," Kol shrugged.

"Thought I was safe at King's?"

"For the most part. However, I find I sleep better when all of my enemies are dead."

"Right," Bonnie huffed. Of course, Pearl had lied about that too. Just like she lied about fighting back. "Guess we have that in common. But this isn't personal. If we're going to kill him, you should know that."

"Curious. Why then?"

"They turn girls out and I want to stop them."

Kol smirked. "How terribly noble of you."

Bonnie opened her switchblade and stepped toward Luka's brother. Kol beat her to it. He ran his baseball bat clean through his head. Blood spurted everywhere. She let out a scream and jumped back so she wouldn't be covered in it.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

"I'm an Original, I'm not about to let the new girl handle my killing for me," Kol told her with a sideways smile and a wink.

Disgust churned in her stomach. When had her life become this – this mess of murder and mayhem? She had been a normal girl once, hadn't she? Or was that all a dream? It had to be otherwise, she would be screaming or crying, maybe both right now. Normal girls couldn't handle seeing a guy have his head bashed in – pimp or not.

"Great, macho posturing," Bonnie muttered under her breath.

Kol rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Women. Come along then, let's untie him and burn the flat to the ground."

"There has to be a better way to dispose of the evidence."

"Here," Kol grabbed his dog tags and tossed them to Bonnie. She caught them easily enough. "There are other ways, but this is the easiest and most efficient. No fingerprints," he held his hands out, showing off his fingers.

"Someone else could get hurt."

Kol's brows knit together and Bonnie had the sudden urge to smooth his brow. But that was stupid, just a leftover from the days when she used to trust boys.

"Like who? We will be long gone before the fire spreads."

"The other people, who live in the building!"

How did he not get this?

"Oh, them," he looked remarkably unconcerned. "Word to the wise, compassion in our world will get you killed."

He was so deadly calm, she believed him. Which made her wonder, why he bothered to help her at all. The answer was painfully obvious and filled her with a dread, she could never put into words.

XXX

After it was done, Kol gave Bonnie a ride back to King's. Just like yesterday when she was with Rebekah in her car, Bonnie marvelled at what a luxury it was to be in one once again.

Kol was playing Def Leppard and she resisted the twitching of her hand, she wanted to turn the music down. But that would be showing a vulnerability and she couldn't. If she was right and he did have a crush on her, she needed to keep him as far away from her as possible. And the best way to do that? Make sure he didn't know any of her weaknesses because that's what men did, they exploited weakness in order to possess.

Bonnie got out of Kol's car the second he pulled up to King's. He rolled down the window.

"Do you know what the papers are calling you?"

"I really don't care," Bonnie said turning around. She walked backwards trying to get away from him.

"They're calling you The Wicked Witch."

"I don't get it."

She was still inching backwards. Kol was smiling wider than ever.

"You're a young girl, who murdered several grown men. They figured you seduced them and killed them as if by magic. How else could such a petite thing like yourself have overpowered them?"

"Oh my God," Bonnie groaned. "That's terrible."

"Good night, little witch."

Bonnie waved and scurried away, unaware someone was watching her.

XXX

The next morning at breakfast, Kol had three cups of coffee and he was still about to fall asleep in his food. He had lain awake until right before dawn thinking of Bonnie. In the past, he had thought her pretty and sweet, but yesterday, she had impressed him. Even after he had knocked her out with morphine, she had shaken it off like it was nothing. Coming after him, helping him complete the kill and dispose of the evidence. It was impressive – to look at her, he certainly wouldn't have thought her as tough as she was.

"What is wrong with you?" Nik asked looking at him like he wanted to dispose of him.

Kol was so tired of this. Perhaps he should just murder Nik the next time his brother was alone. Be done with the fight for succession. The second Elijah graduated, he and Nik would be at war for control, it had already begun.

Elijah favored Nik as the next leader (of course), whereas most of their crew favored him. Even Elijah's girlfriend Katherine favored Kol. Although he suspected that was purely her survival instincts. If Nik took over there was a good chance Katherine would have an "accident". Nik had been convinced Katherine was a traitor from day one.

"Never mind me," Kol growled.

Nik held his hands up. "Someone is testy."

Kol noticed Marcel got up to leave his table at the same time as the oldest Salvatore. They disappeared together.

Now that could only mean trouble for the Originals. The only question remained, how best to handle it?

His eyes landed on Bonnie. She was having breakfast alone. He saw the knife peeking out of the back of her skirt and the sight made him smile.

"Don't tell me you fancy the new girl?" Katherine purred. "She's pretty, but not much fun."

"Oh, Kat you know Kol. He loves a psycho and she does like to get stabby," Rebekah giggled and pantomimed stabbing with her butter knife.

Kol growled and left. He deliberately passed Bonnie's table, slipping her a note. She didn't as much as glance up, but subtly picked it up and bent to straighten her shoelace. Kol knew she was slipping it into her sock.

But his sister's teasing had given him an idea. She was right, his usual method of attack was head-on, and it was obvious. The natural solution to that was to mix things up a little. Which was why, he went to find Marcel. By the time he found him, Damon was long gone.

Pity.

He would have enjoyed beating Damon senseless. It was one of his favorite pastimes.

"Marcel my man," Kol greeted with a cheery smile.

"Oh, no," Marcel said. "What do you want?"

"Just a little favor. What do you say, we take down my brother together?"

When they first arrived here. Nik and Marcel had been thick as thieves. Allying themselves with the Nightwalkers had been a smart choice. When they graduated their organizations would be able to do business, but then Nik had inevitably betrayed Marcel. And Marcel had never forgiven him.

XXX

Bonnie read Kol's note three times looking for a hidden meaning. All it said was:

**Settle your beef with the Nightwalkers. Things are about to get ugly at King's. **

**K**

Bonnie flushed it down the toilet. Kol had gone to the trouble of delivering a covert message so she had gone to the girls' bathroom in an attempt to keep it a secret. It seemed to her like privacy wasn't a big thing at King's. Small surprise when a group of bloodthirsty teen wannabe assassins lived on top of each other.

After another five minutes of mentally arguing with herself, Bonnie still hadn't decided if she thought it was a trap or not. But since Kol hadn't actually hurt her yet or seemed particularly interested in it, she came down in favor of trusting him.

Just this once.

Besides, the one thing she did know for sure was that Marcel and his Nightwalkers were out for blood. That was why, she decided to deal with them as soon as class was over for the day. Her first impression of Marcel was that he was fairly reasonable and Kol wouldn't have suggested the problem could be settled, if all Marcel wanted was her dead.

Bonnie went to advanced Dark Arts with a growing sense of apprehension. On her way into the classroom, Hayley shoved into her. Bonnie jumped back and glared. Without thinking, her hand went to her switchblade, but she didn't take it out or open it. Hayley smirked, she tossed her hair and walked away without a word. That was odd, but Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief realizing she wasn't going to have another run-in with the local Nazis.

Would Pearl make them talk in front of class about the murder?

Would everyone judge her?

Probably.

The whole school was interested in her reputation. And equally disgusted by the patricide. But they didn't know the full story. Not that the truth ever mattered with rumors and gossip.

Bonnie sat down at the back of the class. She didn't like having anyone behind her. It set her on edge. Having seen Pearl lash out all too effectively with her staff yesterday, she paid close attention.

Pearl slowly sauntered up to the front of the classroom. She wore a cold expression, but there was a light of anticipation in her eyes. It was as if she was excited to see how many of her students had completed the assignment. And what their chosen victims told her about them.

Again, Bonnie's stomach lurched.

"Who here has completed the assignment?"

Hands went up around the classroom including Kol's so Bonnie raised hers as well. Pearl smiled or a cruel twist of the lips that passed for a smile.

"And how many of you have proof?"

All of the raised hands went down except for Bonnie's and Kol's. Bonnie glanced at her bookbag where the man's dogtags lay. If Kol hadn't been there, she probably would have forgotten to bring proof as well. As terrifying as the idea of being forced to tell the class about what happened, it was worse to fail her first assignment at King's.

"What a disappointment," Pearl said. "You two," she pointed to Kol and Bonnie with her cane. "Come up here and tell the class about your successful assassination."

Bonnie grabbed her bookbag and followed Kol up to the front of the classroom. He stood there confidently like it was his rightful place. Whereas Bonnie feeling the combined pressure from Pearl and her reputation hung back trying to stay as hidden as possible behind Kol's tall form. He hid her from the worst of the hateful looks she was the recipient of.

"Bonnie here picked the victim," Kol said casually like he was talking about nothing more than a trip to the grocery store. "Him and his brothers turn girls out on the street. Killing him struck my fancy and it obviously struck hers since she'd killed his brother a few days before."

Bonnie risked a glance at Pearl, who nodded. Her lips quirked slightly upward as if this was an interesting revelation.

"Anyway," Kol said running a hand through his hair. "We cased his brother's flat and when he was distracted we snuck in."

Kol conveniently left off the part about how he had knocked her unconscious and left her behind, Bonnie noticed. Probably wise as Pearl wouldn't like it. When she assigned partner work, she generally wanted them to do it together.

"Go on," Pearl said leaning forward eagerly.

"We overpowered him and I bashed his brain in," Kol said still in that too calm way that sent a shiver down Bonnie's spine. "We burned the flat down to hide the evidence."

Pearl nodded as if this was exactly what she had been hoping to hear. And maybe it was.

"That was it," Kol said flatly.

Bonnie just knew this was far from the first life he had taken. She had been awake for most of the night before slipping into nightmares. Whereas Kol looked perfectly refreshed and relaxed. Maybe killing was all about habit. Once she had enough under her belt she would no longer be plagued with feelings of guilt and doubt? Or would she become accustomed to the feeling?

Doubt about whether or not it really was the right decision.

"Interesting," Pearl said with a perfunctory nod. "Truly, an interesting choice of target," her dark eyes flickered to Bonnie briefly, reading far more than she was comfortable with. "As for the proof? Where is it?"

Bonnie reached into her bag. She dug around expecting to come across the cold hard metal in a second, but she didn't. Now she looked more closely, moving her books around. The only thing there were her textbooks and the lip gloss she had stolen from Walgreens.

"Bonnie?" Kol said in an undertone.

He had turned around to help her look. Her blood ran cold and a nervous sweat broke out on her forehead.

"It's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean it's gone?" there was a tension to Kol's jawline that had not been there moments before. "That's not possible. We need that proof, little witch."

Bonnie was too panicked to notice the intimacy of his nickname for her. The way he spoke it, standing just a little closer than necessary and in a quiet voice as if it was meant for her ears only. That was how she knew he didn't intend cruelly or mockingly for her crimes, but as something else. If he had meant to use it to hurt, he would let everyone hear it.

"I don't know. I checked my bag before -" Bonnie stopped talking abruptly. Coldly her eyes slid toward Hayley, who bore an expression of smugness that was almost unbearable. "Hayley, she bumped into me."

Kol growled and cursed under his breath. "We are royally fucked."

"Tell me something I don't know," she hissed back.

Pearl slammed her cane into the floor. "Enough produce the proof or you fail."

"We had proof," Kol said turning around with a dazzling smile. "However, we appear to have temporarily misplaced it."

"What a pity. It's not that I do not believe you however," Pearl's lips curled into a cruel smile. "The assignment was to complete an assassination and bring proof. Without proof you have not completed the assignment in a satisfactory manner and you will take an F with the rest of the class."

Bonnie clenched and unclenched hands. Kol nodded to her and they were about to take their seats again when Pearl's cane shot out quick as lightning. Kol raised his arm catching the brunt of it with his forearm. He didn't as much as flinch, but Bonnie knew he must be bruised at the very least.

"Not so fast. You have all disappointed me, you will all pay penance for your mistakes. Now go."

Bonnie followed the rest of the class as they shuffled outside into a hallway with a wrought iron gates on either side. The doors were open and the kids shuffled around in various moods. Kai slammed his fists against the wall. "I had a kill, but I didn't get proof."

"I told you not to throw the body into that vat of acid so soon," Jo sneered.

Katherine leaned against the wall studying her nails. Marcel was muttering under his breath about needing to do a job with his crew. Elena was gnawing on her lower lip while Damon berated her for ruining his kill.

Why didn't Katherine say anything? Bonnie knew most of the kids at King's could care less about the rest of them, but Elena was her twin. Was whatever loyalty Katherine felt toward the Originals so much stronger than the bond she had with her own sister? It looked like that might be the case because Katherine was next to Kol, who looked alert. His body language was lazy, but Bonnie saw the way his eyes scoured the room for threats. He might be insane like the rest of them, but he wasn't stupid.

Hayley smirked at Bonnie. Her hand flashed something silver and she raised her finger to her lips signalling for silence. One of her cronies took the dog tags and Bonnie saw red.

"You bitch," she spat. "You did this on purpose."

"Course, I did," Hayley drawled in her Southern accent. "You didn't think I'd let a filthy half-breed like you pass, did yah?"

Bonnie was across the room before she knew what happened. She grabbed Hayley by the shoulders and slammed her against the wall. The other girl cackled with laugher.

"Go on now, girl. Get it out of your system because when the day is over, your own kind will have killed you. Less work for us," Hayley said still laughing that horrible laugh. Bonnie slammed her head against the wall again. "That hurt."

"It was meant to bitch."

"Why you little -"

Hayley never got to finish that sentence because Kol's arm wrapped itself around Bonnie's waist. Just as Bonnie was about to draw her knife. He tugged her away like she weighed nothing and put her down.

"Now, now, darling," he said with a smirk. "As much fun as stabbing the local Nazi sounds, this is neither the time nor the place."

Bonnie glared at him and put her knife away. "Do _not _touch me."

Kol's only response was to scoff and swagger back to Katherine. He leaned against the wall and when no one was paying attention, he shot her a warning look. Bonnie knew logically that he was just trying to communicate she was in enough trouble without getting kicked out for the murder of another student. After all, she wasn't a Legacy. Her place here was not guaranteed nor safe.

The gates around them slammed shut with a violent clang. Bonnie jumped and saw with some satisfaction, Hayley was still too banged up from their encounter to react fully.

But her exaltation only lasted a brief moment. In the next instant, a white gas poured into the room. The odour was similar to teargas and she choked, covering her face. Pearl's voice rang out on speakers that sounded like they came from everywhere yet were nowhere to be seen.

"A poisonous gas has been released into this room. In the greenroom you will find the antidote."

Bonnie choked and pulled her blazer more securely in front of her face. Her hand hit the wall as she struggled to stay upright.

"I'm alive without breath, cold as death, I'm never thirsty, but always drinking, what am I?" Pearl's voice said.

The speaker went dead. Some of the other students charged at the gate keeping them locked in. Kol tried to beat it open and drew away swearing. Kai tried to melt the lock, but was restrained before he had the chance.

Bonnie pulled a bobby pin from her hair and stumbled toward the lock. She picked it easily, listening for the sounds of the tell-tale turning and finally the click. Hayley shoved her out of the way. She fell against the wall and saw spots.

A hand was on her elbow, pulling her forward and blindly her feet followed. There was no time to notice, who it belonged to or even that another person was touching her. She followed in a stumble as someone strong forced her along, forced her to keep up.

The gas cleared from her eyes and she could see that several of her classmate's had already started to bleed from their noses. She raced down a set of stairs and first then noticed it was Kol's hand on her elbow. It was still there even after she had long since started to pull her own weight. She wasn't even surprised it was him.

Of course, it was Kol.

And she tried to convince herself it was just because they were partners. No doubt, they needed to both pass in order for it to count. But as she looked around, she saw no one else appeared to be looking out for each other. It was a viper's nest as students tried to get each other out of the way so that they could be the first one there.

The first one to survive. The thought spurred her to move faster.

They ran in the direction of the greenhouse. Bonnie hoped they knew their way there better than she did. She'd yet to make the trip. She ducked when a girl behind her tried to knock her out to take her place.

Kol didn't even turn around properly. Almost lazily, he used a sideways kick to knock her into the wall. Bonnie didn't know the girl's name, but she hit her head and fell to the floor in an unconscious heap.

They entered one of the corridors that led to the back of the school building. A cement door was slowly moving downward. If they weren't quick, they would be trapped. The slowest no doubt would be. She was almost at the front of the group thanks to Kol. He probably would have been first with his long legs if she wasn't slowing him down.

So why was he bothering to help her?

Seemingly from nowhere, the monks appeared. They attacked students. Bonnie was gratified to see Hayley go down. Her happiness was short-lived. In the next instant, staff spinning a monk was coming at her and Kol. A second was landed in front of her. There must be trap doors in the ceiling.

Not thinking, Bonnie grabbed the nearest brass bust and clocked the monk with it. Meanwhile, Kol had disarmed the other monk. He shoved her under the gate and she went. She glanced up just in time to see him throw Katherine underneath. He slid through and right behind him were Kai, Jo and Hayley just made it. Even with Kai trying to shove her back through.

"Run," Kol snapped impatiently at both Bonnie and Katherine.

She didn't need to be told twice and set off at a break neck speed, following Katherine's lead. Within seconds, Kol had overtaken them. He kept glancing back to make sure both girls were still there. Something that once again had Bonnie questioning his motivation. Katherine was a part of his gang, she wasn't.

So why then did he care if she lived or died?

The question continued to plague her. But her breath was coming in steadier wheezes and black spots danced before her eyes, it distracted her. She touched her hand to her nose and saw she too had begun to bleed.

They crashed into the greenhouse and she quickly took stock of the room. Each plant in the room had a small wooden plaque on it. The plaques had various animals engraved on them. Her eyes landed on the fish and the riddle clicked into place.

Katherine elbowed Hayley in the face when the girl tried to get past her. Bonnie rammed her way past Kai, who still looked confused. Kol hit the ground and Katherine was next. Hayley hadn't gotten back up and Kai was on his knees.

"Hurry," he wheezed.

Kai must have seen she knew where she was going. Her knees gave out just as she reached the plant. She grabbed some leaves and shoved them in her mouth. They tasted minty and acidic. She choked them down.

Then began the frantic scramble to reach each of them. Kol was furthest away, but she figured she owed him so she went to him first. She kneeled next to him and forced the leaves down his throat. He coughed and woke up.

In the meantime, Kai had passed out and she fed him leaves then Katherine. When it was Hayley's turn, she hesitated. She looked at Kol, who was rubbing his throat.

"Let her die?"

Kol shrugged and rubbed the back of his head now. He checked it for blood.

"Can't say she wouldn't have it coming, but there's no point. The monks will revive everyone. They're not in the habit of killing students even the ones that deserve it," this he said with a disgusted glance in Hayley's direction.

"Oh my God," Bonnie exhaled. "I thought for sure we were all dead."

Kol chuckled.

Deciding there was no point in leaving Hayley there, she shoved the leaves down her throat as well and then slammed her head back into the floor.

That earned her a real laugh from Kol as well as Kai, who had finally regained consciousness. Kai wolf-whistled.

"Gotta say, I love a girl with a thirst for blood."

Bonnie growled and stalked off.

XXX

Kol was having a smoke after class. He'd hidden away behind the greenhouse. There wasn't much room to sit, but he could lean against the brick wall and it had the added bonus of being one of the most private spots in the entire school. At King's privacy was far too difficult to come by. He itched to get home for the holidays and have a whole wing of the house to himself. Perhaps he would even make use of the opportunity to end Nik once and for all. After all, Pearl's rules didn't count outside of school.

"There you are," Katherine purred.

Kol heard her before he saw her. She slinked around the corner and sat down on a window sill too small for him. She crossed her legs and fluttered her eyes seductively. She only made that face when she wanted something.

"What do you want, Kat?"

He exhaled and contemplated scaring her away.

"Me?" she grinned and studied her nails. "I want a lot of things. Mostly, I want Klaus out of the way."

"I'm working on it," Kol growled. "Incidentally, it would be much easier if you could convince your twat of a boyfriend to back me as his successor."

"Hush now," Katherine pointed a stern finger at him while wearing a teasing smile. "That's no way to talk about my 'Lijah."

Kol rolled his eyes. "He thinks he can control Nik however, you and I both know he is barely in control now."

"Once Elijah graduates King's, dear old Niklaus will whack me," Katherine said saying what he wouldn't. "I have tried to warn Elijah, but -" she shook her head.

Kol got the sense she felt betrayed. It was understandable, Elijah was her boyfriend and surely Katherine meant _something _to him. Yet his choice of successor was the brother, who would kill Katherine the second she turned her back.

"You could always do a runner."

The suggestion came with a hapless shrug.

"And what give up the good life? Sleep on the streets like that rat, Bonnie?" Katherine huffed. "Not if I can help it."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I thought perhaps, we might turn Klaus on Elijah. Show him Klaus' true colors."

Kol smirked. "Impressive. Count me in."

"Good," she said returning the smirk. "So I noticed you were sticking awfully close to Bonnie today. And if I noticed someone else will. Please tell me you aren't trying to sleep with her."

Kol inhaled and put on the cold façade he used during a kill. "She's my pledge."

"Oh," Katherine exhaled dramatically. "Well that's a relief because you and a rat, Kol? I mean c'mon, the girl's a total psycho. Which gives me an idea, I bet she would make a useful recruit."

Again, he shrugged. "Perhaps."

"If nothing else it'll keep her out of trouble because you so don't know what a girl like that is going to do next. And whatever she does is on you so deal with it or don't, but don't come crying to me when it blows up in your face."

The truth was, Kol found Bonnie's motivation to be quite simple. If she felt threatened, she attacked. That information combined with what he police source had dug up gave him a fairly good idea of what had happened that night.

And it was nothing good. He just had one or two more questions.

XXX

Bonnie had half-hoped Marcel would be difficult to find. It would give her a reason not to do this. Maybe if she kept ducking his assassination attempts he would give up. But no such luck, she had barely walked into the courtyard before she saw him. He was sitting by the fountain surrounded by his Nightwalkers.

Bonnie approached slowly and deliberately didn't touch her knife. That was what had started this whole mess to begin with. Marcel looked up and his group flanked him, looking hostile.

She held her hands up. "Look, I don't want any trouble, I just want to settle this."

Marcel laughed. "You think it'll really be that easy, baby girl? Just because Katie failed to kill you, doesn't mean I will."

A chill ran down her spine. She raised her chin and met his gaze confidently.

"You'll get kicked out of school if you do."

Again, he laughed in the cruelest way. "You think Pearl will toss me out for killing a rat? Nah, it doesn't work like that baby girl."

"Don't call me 'baby girl'," she snarled. "Maybe they will, maybe they won't, but be smart. There has to be something else you want or I could just start killing your assassins."

"Just kill her, Marcel," the only white girl in the group said. She leaned forward with a manic gleam in her dark eyes.

"Chill, D," Marcel said. He surveyed Bonnie for a moment thinking. "Yeah, I think I've got a job for a girl like you. Follow me."

Bonnie had no idea what he meant by 'girl like you' and she wasn't too eager to find out. Nonetheless, she followed him when he got up and walked away from the Nightwalkers.

When she saw where Marcel led her, her nerves were not calmed. He had taken to her to one of the ancient decrepit cemeteries in the back of King's. It was filled with too-large ostentatious headstones and mausoleums, which may have been nice when it was built. She glanced at a grave and saw it was 1768. A cold shiver ran down her spine.

Casual and with the grace of a jungle cat, Marcel hopped onto the nearest tomb. His posture was all too relaxed as he surveyed her. Bonnie thought she saw a spark of something in his eyes and her hand twitched reflexively.

"What's the job?"

She resisted the temptation to cross her arms. If she did, it would cost her precious seconds if Marcel attacked. And as a Legacy he had an unfair advantage in the combat training department. No need to give him more of an advantage than he already had.

"You and Mikaelson, what's the deal?"

"Which one?" she cocked her head to the side and studied him. "I'm under the impression there's a lot of them."

Marcel's eyes darkened. "Don't play dumb with me. We both know you aren't. I mean Kol Mikaelson."

"Oh, him."

Bonnie was proud of herself when she managed an eyeroll that made her appear a lot more indifferent towards Kol then she was. She had a lot of confusing feelings related to him. Ones, she needed to sort out when she had a chance to catch her breath. That was amusing she would ever get to catch her breath.

"You two sleeping together."

Bonnie gaped and barely repressed a shudder. The very last thing on her mind was hooking up. The first thing was survival. The second was keeping any man's grubby, cloying hands off her.

"No."

"Then why do you two seem close?"

"We killed a man together, I guess you could say it bonded us."

That earned her a chuckle. "Guess so."

"Now tell me the job before I run out of patience."

Her voice was haughty and impatient, but it didn't match how she was feeling. Because she had the sinking feeling, she already knew what the job was. And Marcel's next words confirmed her worst suspicions.

"I want you to get close to Kol so that I can kill him."

**Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. Just a quick reminder like the show Deadly Class this is set in 1984. And for those of you who hate Hayley and the other Nazies same and I do have painful death scenes planned for all of them. The show includes Nazies so I figured I'd include them to and kill them off horribly because that's the only way to write Nazies. Also the more the fic continues the less it will be like the show, I'm just setting up the world. **

**Izzy**

**Guest: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! Now that Deadly Class has been cancelled I'm channeling all of my disappointment into this fic. I can't believe we aren't getting a season 2.**

**Guest: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Dark Kennett is one of my fave things to write so I'm looking forward to delving into that dynamic here. **


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

Bonnie actually laughed. "And how am I supposed to do that? In case you haven't noticed, Kol isn't exactly the cuddly type and neither am I."

Bonnie thought about how precisely Kol had wielded his bat. How all it had taken was one blow and that man's brain and blood and skull had flown everywhere. A shudder ran through her, but she pushed it down.

Marcel flashed a winning smile. "A pretty girl like you will think of something."

"I don't think so," Bonnie said grimacing in disgust. "Maybe I just tell Kol your plan instead and hook up with the Originals. I hear they're the real players in town."

"Easy now," Marcel held his hands up. "None of the Mikaelsons take bad news well and the idea of a double-cross?" he shrugged. "I doubt the messenger will survive. Even if she's pretty."

Bonnie hated to admit it, but Marcel did have a point. Not one of the Mikaelsons struck her as even-tempered. Even Kol, he was too cheery and relaxed in the company of murder. There was no way he was sane. Of course, she was in the thick of it herself, had been for months now. So maybe she wasn't sane either.

"Fine, I'll take your deal, but you call your people off. And I want in, today."

"Today?" Marcel raised his eyebrows. "Nah, first you show me you can get close to Kol then I let you in. This won't be fast or a one-time thing. He doesn't drop his guard."

"So I've noticed. But the second I show you I can get close, I'm in."

"Deal," Marcel said smiling that thousand-kilowatt smile of his. "There's going to be a party on the roof top tonight. The whole school is going, you should go, prove you can get close to Kol."

"Fine," Bonnie said through gritted teeth. "But you better keep up your end."

Bonnie turned on her heel and walked away. There was a gnawing pit in her stomach at the idea of betraying Kol. In his own way, he'd tried to help her when they were on assignment. And today, he'd made sure she passed. But she told herself it was stupid. It was only betrayal if Kol trusted her and there was no way he did. Besides, there were more important things at stake than trust like her survival. She had done too much to stay alive to throw it all away now.

Since she still didn't have an assigned dorm (Pearl was working on where to put her), she wandered King's until she came upon a quiet spot. It was at the far back of the classrooms that were no longer in use. It was sheltered between the main building and one of the tool sheds the monks used to store their gardening equipment. She sat down on the steps and tried to take deep breaths.

How did her life keep getting shittier?

And how did things just keep getting more complicated? The second she had solved one problem like living on the streets, she was back in another mess. Fake dating Kol just so she could learn his secrets and let Marcel murder him, it seemed worse than anything she had done so far. Which was something as she hadn't done a single thing to be proud of in over a year. Except maybe survive.

Was survival worth it if you became as horrible as the people you ran away from?

Pearl certainly thought so. To hear Pearl talk it was all so simple. Some people did not deserve to live and the students at King's would grow up and choose, who those people were. The thing was, Bonnie wondered if maybe she wasn't one of those people.

Sure, she valued her own survival above Kol's and she'd kill him without a second thought in a fair fight. But this was different. It was sneaky and manipulative – those were two words she didn't normally associate with herself. And somehow, they made her feel wrong and dirty.

A shadow crossed her feet and she looked up just in time to see Kol's dazzling smile. She sighed.

"What are you like following me?"

"Hardly, beautiful," Kol flashed a winning smile and sat down next to her.

He moved with the same speed and precision as he'd done during Pearl's class today. Abruptly like someone had thrown an ice bucket on her she had an unpleasant realization. Any fight with Kol would never be fair.

"What are you doing here?"

He cocked an eyebrow as he lit a cigarette. He inhaled and exhaled with a relaxed expression. It was the closest to content she had ever seen him.

"Only place in the damn school I can have a cigarette in peace."

"Oh," she stared at her feet for a while. "I handled things with Marcel."

"Good."

"But I don't owe you shit for the heads up."

Kol actually laughed. "Never thought you did, little witch."

Bonnie rolled her eyes at the nickname. It was just another way he flirted and she was not going to be charmed.

"Do you think there's such a thing as a fair fight?"

"Why do you ask?"

Bonnie had no idea why she had asked Kol of all people. Maybe she just desperately needed someone to share her thoughts with, more than even she had known.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "The whole assignment today got me thinking."

Kol eyed her as he exhaled like he didn't believe her. "Suppose I don't. In any fight someone has the advantage. Best make sure it's you."

"Suppose so," she said after thinking it over for a while.

Kol stubbed out his cigarette. He gave her one last look that bordered on curious before standing up.

"Stay out of Hayley's way. She won't be a problem when I'm done with her."

"Why?"

Bonnie knew it couldn't be because he actually cared about her. Sure, he'd helped her out a few times even putting his reputation at risk for a couple of those rescue missions, but there was no world in, which Kol had actual feelings. Especially not for a girl like her. Killers didn't love and they definitely didn't love other killers.

"She fucked me over today and I can't let that stand."

"Good luck."

Kol cracked a smile and swaggered away. Bonnie watched him go feeling almost bad about what she was going to do. Too bad she wasn't left alone with her thoughts for more than a few minutes when Marcel jumped down from the roof.

Nimbly, he landed in a crouch. He sat down next to her wearing a broad grin.

"Well it looks like you really do have an in with Mikaelson."

"Looks like," another shrug.

She was prepared to do what she had to in order to stay alive, but she wasn't invested in it. Kol hadn't done anything to her and generally, if someone left her alone, she returned the favor. But at a place like King's things were never that simple.

"Cheer up, baby girl," Marcel tried to slap her on the back the way guys did with each other, but she moved aside and glowered at him. "When this is all over both our fortunes will have seriously improved."

"Whatever. Did I make it into your little club or not?"

"You did so well I'm giving you early admission," Marcel grinned. "Never seen Mikaelson engage in a serious conversation before. Welcome to the Nightwalkers."

A cold shiver ran down her spine.

XXX

Kol tried to ignore his siblings and their gang as best he could. The trouble was before a party Nik was at his most obnoxious. He was drinking and talking loudly with Elijah. Nik would wrap his arm around Elijah's shoulders and bring him in for a brotherly hug, all the while telling Elijah how much he owed him.

It was difficult not to be bitter. Were Kol and the rest of their siblings meant to kowtow to Nik for the rest of their lives? Why was it their responsibility to set right their father's actions? If their father had always loathed Nik that was hardly Kol's nor Elijah's fault. It wasn't even Nik's fault. So why then should they owe him for the rest of their lives?

Kol was better suited to be their next leader at King's. He had more kills under his belt. His grades were infinitely better because while Nik painted, Kol focused his attention on what they were meant to, assassination. Kol was also more popular among their own group and more widely feared.

The happy homicidal maniac – or so they called him.

Nik's only real contribution to the role of leader was his former alliance with the Nightwalkers. However, he had managed to bungle even that much. Besides, what did it matter? The Nightwalkers were one of the lowest ranking gangs in the school. It was hardly a large plus to be associated with them. That said, Kol planned to steal even that from Nik.

"You look pensive," Rebekah said sitting next to him. She passed him a bottle of scotch, which he gratefully accepted. "And that can only mean Nik is vexing you."

"Elijah will support him as the next leader," Kol said chugging the scotch. "Then he will kill me. Likely he will kill Katherine first and then fuck up our family's reputation."

Rebekah laughed. "As if he could kill you. And you want the throne? Then take it, kill him if you must. Prove who is the strongest of you."

"I thought Nik was your favorite brother?"

"Please," she scoffed. "As if I am eager to spend the rest of my life in service to that maniac. No, I simply can't shake him."

"Bekah love, come here a moment," Nik said seeing they were talking.

Kol's eyes narrowed and he fantasized about running a baseball bat through dear old Nik's head. Yes, it would seem his baby sister was on to something. Her suggestion flew in the face of everything they had been taught however, it was precisely due to its novelty that made it brilliant. Combined with Katherine's plan and there was no possible way Nik would still be alive when the school year ended.

XXX

Bonnie hesitantly sat down with the Nightwalkers. She fought not to let her discomfort show. Instead, she put on an indifferent front. She scowled at Katie when she caught her eye. Katie looked a little bruised and a little bitter, but one stern word from Marcel and it vanished.

"Guess it's more thanks to Kol I'm a walking bruise anyway," Katie grunted.

Thierry the only white boy in the group put his arm around her shoulder. Bonnie studied the others trying to get a sense of the hierarchy within the Nightwalkers. So far, she knew Marcel was in charge and Katie packed a helluva punch, but that was about it. Her eyes were drawn to a petite brunette that always appeared to be at Marcel's side when there was a group present. Like Thierry she was white and not for the first time, Bonnie wondered about that.

She herself wouldn't have thought much of it, but she had noticed at King's the gangs were largely divided by color or ethnicity. It reminded her of the things she'd heard about prison life.

"Oh yeah," the girl said with a sweet smile. Instantly, Bonnie distrusted her. "Why did he save you? Kol's not known for his good deeds."

"Just because he shot you down?" Jessie said.

Bonnie knew him by sight from class and she thought his name was Jessie. Could have been Luke or even Peter for all she knew. So far, she'd been the best at keeping tabs on the people that wanted her dead.

"Shut up before I tear your tongue out," Davina snarled.

"Easy, D," Marcel said putting his hand on her shoulder. "And you back off."

Jessie held his hands up and settled back against the bench. Not before he shot one last gloating look at Davina though.

"We were partners on the assignment in Pearl's class," Bonnie said starting to get tired of repeating the story. Hell, she was bored with wondering about Kol's real motivation as it was. "If I had died, he would have failed."

"That's what _I _told you," Katie said to Marcel with a haughty look.

"I always check my facts," Marcel said in a breezy voice. "And since baby girl here is our best chance at reaching Mikaelson alone she's earned a place at our table."

Katie sulked, but let it go.

Bonnie didn't say anything. She didn't as much as smile. It was true joining the Nightwalkers was a good survival move, but they weren't any friendlier than the rest of the school.

"This will be fun," Davina announced with a smile. "But I thought your deal with Kol would let you get close?"

Davina's words were accompanied by a sharp glance at Marcel, who shrugged.

"You know he'd never let his guard down around any of us."

Bonnie's stomach contracted. She might have to kill Kol. It was easy enough to imagine getting close to him, to let someone else do the actual deed. But for her hand to be the one to drive the blade into him? Just the thought made her physically ill. Yet she did not allow as much as one ounce of the fear or guilt she felt to show on her face.

"So when's this party?"

"Later," Marcel said checking his watch. "You need a job, Bonnie?"

Bonnie stared at him. The change of subject had caught her off guard. "What?"

"Most of us work at his bar."

"You own a bar? Staffed with underage kids?"

Marcel's smile was dazzling. "My ma does. It's a chain out of New Orleans."

"The Quarter," Katie said with a smile that was almost friendly. "The booze never stops flowing and neither does the party."

Bonnie thought about it. She hadn't waitressed before, but how hard could it really be?

"I guess yeah."

"Great," Marcel winked. "See where I'm from, we don't trust in the government. They never did nothing for us. But you have your community and you look out for them. They're your people and they have your back."

This resonated with Bonnie in a way nothing else at King's did. Her Grams used to talk about stuff like this. How the African-American community she had grown up had taken care of each other. They might have all been dirt poor, but they stayed together and it kept them strong in spite of all the hardship.

"I'm familiar with the idea," she said slowly.

It was definitely a bad idea to tell the Nightwalkers about her Grams. How she'd taught high school at a meagre salary to kids, most of who's family's had less than she did. How it was her dad, Rudy, who had worked around the clock to get them all a better life. How until recently, Bonnie herself had been upper middleclass. Had only known about those problems in an abstract way thanks to her Grams' and Rudy's stories.

"So the Nightwalkers, we're a community. They're my people and I look out for them. That includes you so you can move your hand from that knife any time."

Bonnie colored. She hadn't even realized she had her hand on the knife. That was how high-strung she had been lately.

"Sorry," she shrugged. "Habit."

Rather than the outright hostility she had come to expect from the students at King's, the Nightwalkers laughed.

"C'mon, we should get you ready for the party," Celestia said eyeing her uniform with distaste. "You can't wear that."

"I don't really have a lot of options," Bonnie muttered.

Celestia rolled her eyes. "Lucky for you, I'm our stylist."

"It's true," Davina chirped. "Celestia has everything in her wardrobe and she can work wonders."

Bonnie shook her head. She was not up for a makeover. Especially not one given by someone who may or may not still want her dead. Having been on the streets for almost a year, the last thing on her mind was her appearance. What little effort she did make was just another survival tactic. Looking like a normal high school kid was a major part of how she had evaded the police for so long. They were looking for a disheveled runaway.

"Don't be an idiot. Let's go."

Seeing no way out, Bonnie followed Celestia back to the other girl's dorm. It was bigger than she had expected. Celestia must share the room because there were two beds. The walls were the same shade of red that adorned most of the classrooms, but there was evidence that two teen girls lived here. Ones with conflicting personalities.

On the one half, the room was covered in punk rock band posters. Everything from the Clash to the Ramones. There was a record player and a stack of carefully place records next to it. The bookshelf was littered with still more vinyl records. Then there were the excess makeup and hair products that took up the rest of the space. Celestia's side of the dorm was covered with posters of pop stars like David Bowie. Her closet was overflowing with clothes and the desk that was intended for studying was overrun with more makeup, hair products and accessories of all kinds.

"Who's your roommate?" Bonnie asked surveying the rocker stuff with some interest.

"Jo, you know Kai's twin?"

"Oh, her," Bonnie said thinking of the tall dark haired girl. "The Coven, right?"

"That's them," Celestia confirmed. "She's a total headcase, but she hasn't tried to kill me in my sleep yet so I guess she's cool."

Bonnie laughed in spite of herself. "She sounds awesome."

Celestia flashed a wicked smile. She started pulling dresses out of her closet one by one. Bonnie watched and some distant part of her mind drudged up memories of her own past. There had been a time when she used to have a closet full of dresses and other nice clothes. She'd had one hell of a shoe collection. She'd been the envy of all the other eight grade girls. Briefly, Bonnie wondered who they envied now.

"Her brother is a total headcase though," Celestia said holding dresses up against Bonnie. "Hm, I might have to choose one of my tops. You're so much shorter."

One glance at Celestia's tall form was enough to confirm that. Bonnie was barely 5,3 and Celestia was almost a whole head taller than her.

"Sorry."

"Hm," Celestia held up an emerald green dress that flared out at the bottom in an asymmetrical poof. "This is pretty close to one of Madonna's dresses. Matches your eyes."

"I guess," Bonnie wrapped her arms around herself.

"Anyway, what was I saying?" Celestia asked as she dug around for shoes.

"Something about Kai."

"Oh yeah," Celestia snorted. "You know Damon Salvatore?"

Did she ever. Bonnie had helped Kai poison him in class the other day. Now there was a memory she would erase if she could.

"Yeah, I know him."

"Well him and Kai don't mix as I'm sure you've noticed," Celestia said in the same tones as her old friends used when they talked about juicy gossip. For half a second, Bonnie could almost imagine she was back at her old school. "So Kai's had it up to here with Damon sometime before Christmas last year. But with Pearl's rules there's not much he can do."

"Something tells me Kai's the kind of guy that finds a way around her rules."

"Oh, and did he ever," Celestia's eyes were bright with excitement. "Kai's pretty crafty and he stalks Damon when he's home on break. And rigs the whole Salvatore manor effectively convincing Damon the place is haunted by one of his past victims."

"What?" Bonnie paled.

"Damon likes to kill young girls. He's totally more serial killer than assassin if you ask me, but not the point. Kai has sound recordings of her voice – or a girl that sounds like her, begging for her life. He rigs them to go off whenever Damon is home alone."

Bonnie found herself leaning closer to hear better.

"He played her begging for her life and accusing Damon of the crime. Finally, Damon was convinced it was real it and it was never going to stop," Celestia said in a hushed voice. "And then Kai snuck in one night. Damon was on his knees, crying and begging the girl to forgive him."

Bonnie had a hard time imagining Damon showing anything remotely close to remorse. But she supposed even the most vicious killers felt something. She did. The eyes of the men she killed haunted her dreams.

"And then," Celestia said slowly. "Kai struck. Damon would have been dead if his brother hadn't come home."

"Stefan?"

"Yeah," Celestia sighed. "He's a hunk, but he's as psycho as his brother."

Celestia tossed a pair of shows at her and ordered her to change. Bonnie went behind the privacy screen and tried on the emerald dress with the chunky white ankle boots.

"What's Stefan's deal?"

Bonnie was wrestling the dress over her head it. It was skin tight and she didn't think Celestia would be able to zip it all the way up.

"Now there's a juicy tidbit," Celestia gushed. "Stefan is known for tearing the heads off his victims. Then he puts them back on."

"What?" Bonnie poked her head around the privacy screen. "That's fucked up."

"Oh, I know," Celestia leaned forward. "I'm telling you that family is more serial killer than assassin."

"What's the difference?" Bonnie asked going back pulling the dress down around her hips.

Even with all of the weight she had lost on the streets it was a tight squeeze. She had never been big, but she used to have the beginnings of curves and a bum. But she had lost so much weight she looked more like a skeleton than herself.

How small was Celestia's waist?

"Serial killers have this compulsion. I think, I don't really know. But us? We choose the method that gets the job done best and go home."

It sounded so simple, almost normal when Celestia explained it. Bonnie had another one of those strange moments where she could have sworn they were just like any other girls. Talking about boys from school and trying on outfits.

"How do you breathe in this?" Bonnie asked shuffling out from behind the privacy screen.

"Oh, it's not mine," Celestia waved a careless hand.

Celestia's lips pursed into a thin line as she surveyed her figure. Bonnie wrapped her arms protectively around herself. She felt an intense urge to run away when Celestia's eyes landed on the white scars on her arms and legs.

"What happened to you, girl?" Celestia's eyes had trained in the worst of it. A large slash on her inner thigh. It was almost an inch thick and jagged.

Bonnie shook her head. She wasn't telling that story.

Not ever.

"Alright, I can work around it," Celestia said and for just a second, Bonnie thought she saw a glimmer of pity in her eyes. But the emotion was gone as fast as it appeared. "Now that I see it on that dress is way too much."

Celestia rummaged through her closet and came away with a navy blue sweater. It was scoop necked and off the shoulder. The sleeves were loose. Even Bonnie had to admit it was the height of fashion. Celestia choose a black miniskirt that flared out into a pouf at the bottom. She grabbed a pair of black tights and leg warmers to wear over the boots.

The outfit as it turned out fit Bonnie like a glove. She looked in the mirror and realized she looked like a normal girl. The tights hid the awful scars on her legs and the sweater covered the cigarette burns and slashes on her arm. Not that it really mattered, Kol had already seen those. There were still a few faint crescent shaped scars on her shoulder, but overall it was a vast improvement. She really did look like her old self. It was so strange she had to blink. The white ankle boots gave her a little added height too, which was nice.

Celestia thrust a pair of white hoop earrings at her as well as green and white chunky plastic bangles. Reluctantly, Bonnie put the jewelry on and tucked her switchblade in her boot. It was further away then she would have liked, but at least she still had it on her.

"Sit."

Celestia pointed to the makeup chair and Bonnie sat down.

"I don't know if all of this stuff is actually going to work on Kol. He seems fairly immune to girls and their charms," Bonnie confessed chewing on her lip.

Celestia was arranging all of the makeup she would need.

"It's just one part of the long-con we're pulling here," she mumbled distractedly. "Where is the blue eyeshadow?"

"I guess."

"And I need the concealer to hide your scars."

"Doesn't matter," Bonnie said looking at the cigarette burn on the back of her hand. It had faded now it was just a white circle. In the beginning, she hadn't thought it would ever heal.

"Course it does."

"No, it really doesn't. Kol's already seen a few of them."

Celestia raised her eyebrows and gave Bonnie her full attention. "_How_?"

"I rolled my sleeves up during our assignment."

Celestia nodded. And there it was again that flicker of sympathy that did not sit right with Bonnie. Especially because assassins shouldn't be that sympathetic.

Fortunately, Celestia quickly became preoccupied with making her skin glow and applying blue eyeshadow. She put the finishing touches on with an electric pink lip gloss. Bonnie stared at the transformation. The dark circles under her eyes were gone. Once again, she found herself remembering, who she had once been. Those memories were too painful and she shoved them aside.

I'll never be normal again. Might as well get used to it, Bonnie thought.

Celestia did her hair. She used flaxseed and Shea butter to pull her hair up into two puffs. It took almost two hours, but by the time she was done, Bonnie's hair looked better than it ever had.

It was no surprise. Celestia's own hair was amazing. She had her black hair crimped into tight curls. Braids ran up the side and down the pony. It was an eclectic look that brought out Celestia's sharp features.

"You should be a stylist. You're wasting your time at King's," Bonnie said with a teasing smile.

"I know," Celestia said with a bubbly laugh. "But Marcel says there are plenty of jobs where we need a stylist as much as an assassin so I'm good."

"What kind of jobs?"

"I don't know," Celestia shrugged. "Sometimes the gang takes out like rogue cops and politicians. You know anyone, who threatens the peace in New Orleans. That requires some undercover work."

"In the French Quarter?" Bonnie dredged up a memory from social studies.

The French Quarter in New Orleans was majorly populated by African-Americans if she remembered correctly. Something to do with the Creole settlers, but it wasn't something she had paid much attention to. School in general had always held very little appeal to her.

"Yeah, Marcel's dad was an OG, but now his mom runs things."

Celestia got out a comb and created little waves out of Bonnie's baby hair.

The whole transformation was complete and Bonnie smiled. Until she remembered the whole point of this was to trick Kol into thinking she wanted to be his girlfriend. That way the Nightwalkers could get close and finish him off. Unless they forced her to do it.

"Why do you want Kol dead?"

Celestia surveyed her for a moment as if trying to make up her mind about something. "I guess you deserve to know if you're going to do this, if Kol takes over as the next leader of the Originals that would be alright for us. He made a fair offer in exchange for some extra muscle, but Klaus? He made a great offer."

"So it's a double-cross," Bonnie nodded. "I can handle that, but just so you know, I prefer it if things are out in the open."

"Can't argue that, girl. I'm the same. Now let's go before the night is over."

Celestia grabbed a bottle of cheap wine from her bookshelf. She nodded to Bonnie and she followed the other girl to the school's rooftop. Bonnie joined her with the other Nightwalkers at first. She even let Celestia pour her a glass of wine, she would need something to keep her nerves under control.

Out of the corner of her eye, she kept her attention focused on Kol and Hayley. Hayley was at the far end of the roof with the rest of the Dixie Mob. Even from a distance they looked like an inbred group of racists. And she knew that wasn't the mission, but Hayley had made it clear she was out to get Bonnie so she found her presence distracting.

Eventually, Kol untangled from the rest of his group. He sat down on the railing with his drink and a smoke. He looked cool for lack of a better word. Bonnie internally debated whether or not now was the right time to join him. She knew from earlier, he preferred to smoke alone. But he also hadn't seemed to mind her company.

"Why don't you ask him to bum a smoke?" Katie whispered following Bonnie's gaze.

"That's probably as good an in as I'm going to get," Bonnie agreed.

Steeling herself, Bonnie approached feeling nervous for reasons she couldn't explain. All of her earlier encounters with Kol had been pure chance or because Pearl had thrown them together. This time it was different. It was a calculated move to get close to him and it made everything worse, more complicated in a way she couldn't explain.

Bonnie hopped up next to him without waiting for an invitation. "Can I have one of those?"

"Certainly, beautiful," Kol smirked and passed her a cigarette he lit in his own mouth. Before a move like that would have made her blush. His eyes trailed along her figure. "I like your makeover. Courtesy of the Nightwalkers?"

Bonnie nodded because there didn't seem to be much else to say about it.

"I see you not only took my advice, you signed up with them."

Again, Bonnie's answer was half-hearted at best. She shrugged. "I don't know it seemed better than being a rat."

"It is."

Bonnie exhaled and let the silence hang between them for a while. Kol was talkative enough, but she didn't want to push or do anything that might make it look like she was trying to find a way in. He wasn't stupid and since he came from a criminal family, he was probably paranoid. Or at least cautious.

Finally, Bonnie felt like she should say something or leave him alone so she spoke knowing her future at King's was at stake.

"Why do you keep helping me?" she asked and lowered her voice to a confidential whisper.

Kol cracked a smile. "I really don't know myself, beautiful. Perhaps you can repay me?"

The hackles on the back of her neck rose and she reached for her boot. She didn't really need her knife, one push and Kol would go tumbling off the roof. It was more for the reassurance the cold steel brought her.

"Whatever you're thinking, I'd kill that thought in its tracks if I were you."

Kol laughed. "Easy now. That's not what I had in mind unless you're offering?"

She must be going crazy because it almost sounded as if there was a hopeful note in his voice now.

"You're a pig."

"I was curious what really happened that night."

"What night?" Bonnie snapped because the truth was, she was still on edge.

"You know what night," seeing her furiously defiant expression Kol sighed heavily. "The night you left your father and two others dead.

Bonnie shook her head. "That's not your business."

"Must be true what the police are saying then," he had a long drag of his cigarette before exhaling. "Funny, I've never known them to be right before."

Bonnie let go of the knife and twisted her hands in her lap. In a lot of ways this conversation would be easier if Kol just wanted what most guys did.

"I didn't kill him you know."

"Your father?"

Bonnie nodded. "I have done a lot of terrible things. Things I can never take back, but I didn't kill him."

"Honestly, I assumed as much," another exhale and another puff of smoke. "None of the signs were there."

"Signs?"

"Abuse, neglect," he shrugged. "The usual precursors to patricide."

"How did you -" Bonnie broke off and shook her head. "Rich professional criminal of course you have contacts in say the police force," this was said with a pointed look.

"And the ADA," Kol flashed a smile. "You also forgot about the government contacts."

Bonnie shook her head. "Is there anything you can't find out?"

"The CIA and the MI6 those bastards take secrecy seriously."

Bonnie laughed before realizing he wasn't joking. Then she grew serious.

"That's crazy."

"What did happen?"

"That's not your business."

"Perhaps not however, you told me you didn't kill your father."

"I tried to tell the police that too, but they didn't listen."

"Not everyone is a clever as I am," Kol winked at her and she looked down at her feet wondering if it was possible to fake a blush. "You killed the other men though?"

Bonnie nodded. Her throat felt too tight and just like whenever she was forced to relive that night she felt the inexplicable urge to run away. She jumped down from the railing and started to back away.

"Then I can guess the rest."

That was it, she started to back away faster, needing desperately to get out of there.

There were hands on the back of her shoulders.

"Bonnie look out!"

Kol's warning was too late. The hands were already on her back and they sent her flying. The last thing she saw was the brick wall of the railing.

**Thank you to everyone, who has read and reviewed this fic! It gives me inspiration to keep writing. Let me know what you thought of this chapter. I hadn't actually planned to update it tonight, but since I was updating my bonkai fic, I figured I should update something for the kennett shippers too.**

**Izzy**

**Guest: Thank you! Don't worry, I'm working on editing/writing the next few chapters of Timeless. With any luck it should be up in roughly two weeks. **


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

There was someone holding her, pulling her to her feet and she looked around in confusion. Kol was standing next to her and he was helping her up. She blinked and breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she hadn't hit the brick wall. Already she had too many scars.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

Bonnie couldn't decide if she was more embarrassed or furious.

Kol lowered his voice to a confidential whisper. "Run along, beautiful. I'll handle this."

Bonnie looked up at him in surprise, but Kol was already on the move.

With long steps, he reached Hayley, who was still snickering. His hand shot out quick as a snake and wrapped itself in the hair at the nape of her neck. He slammed her face into the glass skylight next to her.

A small gasp of surprise and horror escaped Bonnie when Hayley screamed. She'd known Kol was a violent person, but this was somehow even more sinister than when he'd taken out Luka's brother with a baseball bat.

The Dixie Mob tried to come to Hayley's rescue, but they were outnumbered by the Originals. All of whom had flanked Kol in an instant. The Originals blocked the Dixie Mob easily and even Klaus, the brother, who wanted Kol dead was acting in his defense.

A girl with a shaved head was trying to get past Rebekah, but the blonde grabbed her by the throat and threw her off the rooftop that made the rest of them back off as Kol continued to beat Hayley. He'd thrown her to the ground and was kicking her.

Bonnie watched it was like a train wreck - she knew she should look away, but she couldn't make herself do it. Once upon a time, this would have made her sick, but it didn't matter anymore. Now she was as bad as Kol and the rest of them.

What right did she have to judge them for their violence when she was a killer too?

If Kol had been beating up another girl, she might have intervened. But Hayley was a Nazi with a grudge against her so Bonnie figured just this once, she would let it go.

"You alright there, baby girl?" Marcel's smooth voice reached her in her stupor.

One glance behind her was enough to tell her she too had a group now. People, who would come to her defense no matter how they personally felt about her, just like Kol. And what surprised her more than that was how much she liked the idea. It was reassuring in a way, which was fucked up given what kind of people they were.

But everything at King's was fucked up.

"Bon?" Celestia said.

Blinking, Bonnie realized she should have answered Marcel a long time ago. Her lips curved into a smile.

"I'm fine. Just enjoying the show."

"The Dixie Mob is a curse on this place," Celestia agreed shaking her head in disgust.

"Maybe we should help the Originals out," Bonnie agreed with an evil smile.

"Call me crazy, but I don't think that will be necessary," Marcel smirked.

Bonnie followed his gaze and saw Kol was on his way over with Hayley. He had her by the scruff of her neck and he dumped at her Bonnie's feet.

What the hell? The thought raced through her mind along with a million other panicked thoughts. All of which, were starting to make her think Marcel was right. This thing with Kol it wasn't just physical – he might have actual feelings for her. Or as close to feelings as people like them got.

"I thought you would like to do honors," Kol said and winked at Bonnie.

Oh my God, this is how assassins show affection, Bonnie thought panicked.

"If I kill her -" Bonnie glanced at Marcel.

"Don't worry about Pearl's rules," Marcel said smoothly. "Ways around all of them."

"She did attack you. It seems only fitting," Kol said. "And so rudely interrupted me. A dangerous thing to do, Hillary."

Hayley groaned and used her elbows in an attempt to clamber into a sitting position. Mercilessly, Kol stomped on her back knocking her back to the cement floor. She didn't even scream in pain, she just whimpered.

"We've all grown tired of the Dixie Mob," Marcel said with a discrete look in Kol's direction.

"With our newfound _common interest_," Kol said with a threatening look at Marcel. "It's only polite. However, if Bonnie doesn't wish to dirty her outfit by all means allow me."

Bonnie knew instantly, she had to make up her mind. Had to act and really how hard was it to put a Nazi in the ground?

She kneeled and grabbed Hayley's hair raising her face to hers. Even now as she was on the cusp of death Hayley looked at her with pure hatred as if Bonnie was something less than human.

Thank you, that makes it easier, Bonnie thought. None of her past victims had ever looked at her like she was sub-human before.

Bonnie withdrew the switchblade and pressed it to Hayley's throat.

"Any last words?"

This would be messy, Bonnie sure hoped Celestia would forgive her for ruining the outfit.

Hayley cursed her out using every racial slur Bonnie knew and even a few she didn't. Hayley's tirade ended with; "Father killer."

"The word is patricide," Bonnie snapped. "But thanks for making this easy."

Bonnie pressed the knife and was about to slice open Hayley's throat when monks appeared out of nowhere. Kol grabbed her arm and pushed her ahead, telling her to run. Bonnie didn't think twice about it, she ducked a blow from one of the monks and scrambled to the side of the roof closely followed by Celestia.

She tossed a look over her shoulder just in time to see Kol block a monk's hit with the staff. She scrambled over the railing and pulled Celestia with her. The roof was too tall to jump from and survive so she looked around for another exit.

"The tree," Celestia said pointing.

There was a large oak tree that they could probably reach from here if they jumped. Bonnie didn't have time to question why they were running from the monks, but if she got the chance, she was definitely going to ask.

Bonnie gauged the distance between the tree and the rooftop, she was about to jump when a firm hand caught the back of her collar. She looked behind her and saw a monk. Celestia had been wrestled into a chokehold and was being pulled along.

Bonnie tried to run away, but couldn't get out of there. The next thing she knew she was thrown into a room and the door was shut behind her. She ran for it and hit her fists against it just as a key turned in the lock.

"Dammit!"

"Chill out, Bonster," Kai chuckled. "It's just lockdown."

"Lockdown?" she looked around and saw Kol was lying on the floor bleeding from a headwound. "Oh my God, is he OK?"

"He'll live," Kai said with a shrug. "Otherwise the monks would have taken him straight to the infirmary. They're not really in the habit of killing students even if they hit pretty hard," he rubbed his shoulder.

"Oh," Bonnie said trying to hide her relief.

Kai wasn't fooled for a second and he rolled his eyes at her. "Sheesh, good thing you're not an actress because boy, that performance isn't fooling anyone. The whole school knows about you and your Romeo."

"We aren't a thing," Bonnie growled. "And what the hell is lockdown? How long are we stuck in here for?"

"Depends," again Kai shrugged and the movement made him wince.

He must be injured.

"How badly are you hurt?"

"Not much. Just a little bruised, but feel free to dress up as a sexy nurse and tend to my wounds."

"No."

Kai sulked. And Bonnie went back to ignoring him. Instead she grabbed a pillow case off the bed and pressed it to the wound on Kol's head.

"Whose dorm is this anyway?" Bonnie asked.

She wasn't really expecting an answer. Her hand was skimming Kol's throat checking for a pulse. It was steady and present, but she was still concerned he might have some kind of head wound. Although it wasn't lost on her how pointless her concern was. After all, the Nightwalkers wanted him dead.

It was a pity. When he wasn't talking and his hair fell in his eyes he looked young. She had the urge to brush his hair aside, but resisted.

"It's mine, but that's Damon's pillow you got there," Kai said with a gleeful smile. "I can't wait to tell him why there's blood on it."

"I don't see how the why matters."

Kai's smile broadened. "Oh, you don't know."

"Know what?"

Bonnie raised the pillow case from Kol's head to examine his wound. Now that most of the blood had seeped into the fabric she could see it was a shallow cut. Head wounds just bled more than others. But Kai was right, he would be alright once he woke up. Might have a killer headache, but she doubted he would die or lose any brain cells.

"Damon's got a thing for you," Kai sing-songed. "But fair warning, I hear he's got the clap."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Damon's really not my type."

"What about me, Bonster?"

"What about you?" she mumbled.

Bonnie was now preoccupied with trying to wake Kol. The sooner he woke the better she would feel. And that was something she was trying her hardest not to analyze.

"Am I your type?"

Bonnie looked up and saw Kai was biting his lower look and giving her a heated look. What felt like a million years ago receiving a look like that would have driven her crazy and flustered her to no end.

"You're alright."

She didn't know much about Kai and giving him a neutral answer seemed like the best option since she was trapped in a room with him.

Wake up, she thought as she tapped Kol's cheek.

"You know, you could at least be a grown up and admit I'm a hottie."

"Uh-huh."

"I mean, I think you're a hottie."

"I wish you didn't," she muttered under her breath, hoping Kai wouldn't hear, but he did.

"You know that's actually amazingly hurtful," Kai sighed. "I mean you don't know the first thing about me -"

"I know you like to beat up Damon Salvatore and that I'm still traumatized after what happened in Poison class so thanks for that memory."

To her surprise Kai actually laughed. She was starting to think he was a little unbalanced.

"You're feisty and hot, I like it."  
"Do you have any smelling salts?"

Bonnie looked over at him hopefully. She was almost sure that's what Kol had used to wake her up when Katie attacked her.

"No."

"Ugh," Bonnie went to the sink in the far corner of the room. She wet some toilet paper and then pressed it to Kol's forehead. When that didn't work she kept going using it on his neck. "C'mon, Kol," she murmured. "Wake up already."

"Oh yeah, he's not your boyfriend," Kai muttered and crossed his arms. When she happened to glance up at him, he rolled his eyes.

"Well he's not."

"Uh-huh, that's why you're fawning all over him," Kai made a disgusted face then his expression turned into a mockery of a teen girls. "Oh, Kol please wake up. I just love you," he gushed and pitched his voice into a high falsetto.

Bonnie glowered. She thought about stabbing Kai just to shut up him. Fortunately for Kai and maybe for her too, Kol groaned. A moment later he blinked and he stared up at her.

"Bonnie?"

"Hey," she said smiling in relief. "The monks broke up the party."

"And we're on lockdown," Kai complained and threw his head back. "Hey let us out already!"

Bonnie glanced over at Kai once again questioning his sanity. With one look at Kol she wordlessly asked the same question. Kol must have known what she was thinking because he nodded.

Oh, well that explained a few things, Bonnie thought to herself.

Kol's fingers brushed the hair away from her face. "Thanks for playing nurse."

Bonnie bit down on her lower lip and blushed.

"Oh, just get a room already," Kai heckled and rolled his eyes. "Seriously, let me the fuck out of here!" this he screamed at the ceiling.

Bonnie wasn't as alarmed by Kai now that Kol was awake too.

"Shut up, Kai."

Kol sat up and shot a threatening look at Kai.

"How's your head?"

"I've got a headache however, I do believe there has been no permanent damage."

"That's a relief."

Kol winked at her.

Bonnie needing to get away sat down on what she assumed was Damon's bed. She took out her switchblade and started twirling it. One of the girls in the homeless encampment along the river had shown her how. That was actually where Bonnie got the butterfly knife. Sara had been a friend and then one day she went missing. Bonnie still wondered what had happened to her even though she knew those possibilities were better off unexplored.

Kol sat down on the opposite side of her. He pulled out his smokes and lit one.

"Dude," Kai exclaimed. "If you're going to smoke in my room at least have the decency to offer me one."

Exasperated Kol tossed the pack to him. "Anything to get you to shut up."

"Me?" Kai said as he easily caught the pack in mid-air and lit his own before throwing it back. "I'm not the total psycho."

Kol snorted. He passed the pack to Bonnie and gratefully accepted a cigarette. She lit it and sighed as the nicotine filled her lungs. Any escape from the harsh realities of life no matter how brief or mild was a blessing in her mind.

"I'm not the one, who orchestrated a mass murder at the age of eight," Kol said with a look of disgust.

"That's was my father."

"I was talking about the death of your siblings," Kol replied evenly. "Explain to me exactly how you and Jo were the only ones to escape that compound alive. I hear old Father Joshua Parker had planned to kill his flock, not his family."

Kai smiled evilly. "Actually, I knew he'd poisoned the Kool Aid so I grabbed Jo and we ran for it."

"After you killed him."

"After we killed him," Kai agreed. "It was a bloodbath, but I'm more than happy to keep his legacy alive."

"Wait -" Bonnie said slowly. She'd heard about Kai and the Coven, but there were so many crazed cult leaders out there she hadn't realized, whose kid Kai really was. "Your dad was Father Joshua?"

"The one and only," Kai said with a dazzling grin. He pulled a bottle of vodka out from under his bed. "And I'll drink to the old bastard's memory."

The news coverage had been insane. Bonnie was barely in school when it first happened, but she remembered hearing it on the radio and her dad changing the TV station when she came into the room. Even the teachers at school had discussed it loudly in the hallways. Then every year after on the anniversary there was always news coverage and speculation about what really happened to the two oldest twins.

A boy and a girl.

Their bodies were never found, but there was no sign of them anywhere else in the world either. Bonnie had just assumed they'd died somewhere in the desert trying to escape.

"I figured you and your sister died in the Arizona desert."

"Everyone did," Kai cracked another smile. "Our remaining family sent us to King's."

"Yes, every budding sociopath needs to know how to murder people," Kol said and chuckled.

Kol and Kai seemed to have an easy going enough attitude toward each other, but she saw the truth in Marcel's words. Kol never did relax. Even now he was scouting exits and his eyes kept landing on various items as if he were mentally indexing everything that could possibly be used as a weapon. Each gaze would only last a moment or so before he looked back to her and Kai, tracking their positions. And he kept his back to the wall, which might have looked casual except his shoulders were hunched forward as if he was ready to spring into action any second.

Yes, Bonnie could see why Marcel and the Nightwalkers would have difficulty getting close to Kol.

"Jealous?" Kai snickered.

"Hardly."

Bonnie's ears perked up. Was Kai actually a diagnosed sociopath because that would explain a few things. The shrink the cops had gotten to assess her tried to claim she was a sociopath. Bonnie didn't know much about mental health or how people got their diagnosis, but she knew she didn't fit the bill. Because like the shrink had explained to her the primary sign was a lack of empathy, which meant not caring about other people.

And Bonnie cared. There were people she would never hurt like her dad and her Grams. But the police and the shrink didn't care, they had already decided she was guilty of a triple homicide because the story of a mentally disturbed girl, who finally snapped was easier to sell to a jury than the real story.

Would she have been deemed guilty if she were another color? Somehow, Bonnie didn't think so.

"Really? Because I hear you're a known sociopath yourself," Kai said eyeing Kol with an evil look. "Or maybe that's your little girlfriend. You a sociopath, Bonster?"

Bonnie shot him a look of pure disgust and went back to her cigarette. If she could help it, there was no way she was engaging in this craziness with Kai.

There was a thud and the air vent above the bookcase hit the floor. Bonnie jumped and Kol was on his feet. He didn't sit back down until he saw it was Katherine.

"What are you doing here, Kat?" Kol asked lighting a second cigarette.

Katherine hopped out of the vent in a graceful move that made Bonnie wonder if she was a gymnast.

"Got trapped in the same room as Klaus," Katherine said straightening up and brushing off her dress. She strode over to the mirror and began to fluff her feathered hair. "I thought it was a good idea to make my escape before he got homicidal."

Kol eyed the air vent then Katherine. "Any chance he could follow you through there?"

Katherine snorted. "Honey, I barely made it through."

"Won't the monks notice you're in the wrong room?" Kai asked having another sip of his vodka.

Katherine reapplied a layer of red lipstick. She smacked her lips and surveyed the results.

"Who cares as long as I'm not dead?"

"I thought you were an Original," Bonnie said wondering if she hadn't missed something crucial.

"Oh, I am now," Katherine said turning around and giving Bonnie a mischievous smile. "But I started out as a part of the Mystic Falls crew. Not unlike yourself except I was never a lame old rat and I certainly wouldn't be caught dead with the Nightwalkers," she shuddered.

"Don't make me stab you," Bonnie said. "I like this outfit."

Katherine rolled her eyes and jumped on top of the desk. "Anyway, it's the worst kept secret in King's that Klaus thinks I'm a traitor. He's been itching to kill me since I hooked up with 'Lijah."

"Oh," was all Bonnie said.

"You should join the Coven," Kai said winking at her. "I'd never kill a girl as pretty as you."

"Headcases aren't my type," Katherine said and snapped her fingers. "Don't bogart the liquor."

Kai put the lid on and tossed it to Katherine, who caught it easily. She unscrewed the lid and had a long sip.

"Oh, that's better," Katherine moaned.

She flounced over and sat down between Bonnie and Kol. She passed the bottle to Kol, who had a long pull before sending it to Bonnie. It tasted horribly bitter and it burned on its way down, but her head felt pleasantly hazy afterwards.

"Anyone care to break out of here?" Kai suggested.

"What's the point?" Kol replied. "Lockdown never lasts more than a couple of days at the most. Might as well stay put."

"And plan our next move against Klaus," Katherine purred.

Bonnie twisted her hands in her lap and looked down. Klaus – she didn't have all the details, but she knew he was the reason the Nightwalkers had a hit out on Kol.

"Might I offer a poison or two?" Kai said nodding toward his bookcase.

First then did Bonnie notice it was filled to the brim with potion vials and bottles. The liquids were all manner of different colors and she recognized a few from Poison class.

"We can brew our own poisons," Kol retorted.

Bonnie glanced at Kai's wall. Like his sister Jo's side of the dorm, his was covered with punk rock posters, vinyl records and the wall was painted black.

XXX

Bonnie lay on the floor of Kai and Damon's bedroom. She had her back to the wall and Katherine was asleep somewhere at her feet. Kai's loud snores filled the room and she stared at the ceiling, trying to block out the noise around her. She never slept anymore, at least not for more than a few fitful moments at a time. The only thing that gave her any comfort now was the cold kiss of the metal switchblade in her hand.

Someone had painted a glow in the dark pentagram on the wall. It looked like it had been done in blood red paint, at least Bonnie hoped it was paint. Kai's work she assumed.

Kol shifted on the bed. Katherine had easily deferred it to him and when Kol had offered it to both girls, Bonnie had declined. She wanted to be close to the window that way there was an escape route if she needed it.

"Why aren't you asleep?" Kol whispered.

He moved so that he could see her and Bonnie shrugged. "Don't know. I think Katherine's awake too."

"No," Kol glanced at his friend. "She's out cold. She's drooling."

Bonnie tamped down on a laugh.

The door to the room swung open and a group of monks entered the room. They dragged Katherine and Kai out. Bonnie sat up and watched in horror. They hadn't heard from the monks since dinner time when they let people out in groups to eat.

The monks slammed the door shut behind them and locked the door again.

"What the hell was that?" Bonnie said looking at Kol.

He ran his hand through his hair. "They're interrogating people about the fight and the party."

Her heart started to pound wildly. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead and her head spun. If the monks learned she had anything to do with any of it, she would be expelled. Then where would she be? Back on the street and running from the cops?

No, she couldn't go back to that.

"W-w-what?"

"Just blame me," Kol said lying back down and making himself comfortable.

"Blame you?"

"Yes, tell them I lost my temper when Hayley attacked you. Pearl won't expel a Mikaelson. Even the Guild won't cross us."

"What's the Guild?"

Kol yawned and stretched. "I'll tell you in the morning. If you don't mind, I'd like to go back to sleep."

It wasn't long before Kol's snores filled the room and Bonnie found herself filling with resentment because he could sleep so easily. She tossed and turned before finally realizing Kai's bed was empty.

Trying to be quiet, she crept over to the bed. One of the floorboards creaked so loudly even she jumped. Kol woke up and stared at her.

"What are you doing, beautiful?"

Bonnie glared. She hated his nicknames for her. The way he only used them when they were alone – if she wasn't careful, they would draw her in.

"Stealing Kai's bed. I kind of thought it was obvious."

"If Kai returns and catches you in his bed -" Kol let his voice trail off. "Well I'm not certain if he would climb in with you and attempt to seduce you or simply blow a gasket however, something tells me you wouldn't care for either."

Bonnie froze. She stood there indecisive trying to decide if she should risk Kai's craziness or go back to sleeping on the floor.

"The floor it is," she mumbled more to herself than anyone else.

"Don't be silly," Kol slid further in on the bed. "C'mere. There's plenty of room for both of us. I promise to behave."

"What? No!"

Kol chuckled. "Suit yourself. I'm certain lying awake all night on the cold hard floor will have you sharp and ready for tomorrow's interrogation."

Bonnie sighed and took out her knife. "Just so we're clear, you try anything and I will stab you."

"Bloody hell, you do know how to turn a man on, don't you?"

Bonnie was floored by the genuine heat she heard in his voice. It almost made her back out, but this was what she was supposed to do. Get close to Kol and sleeping next to him? Well that was closer than she ever had been with a boy.

Kol slid further towards the wall and raised the covers for her. On edge, Bonnie got under the covers. She closed her eyes and realized her back was facing Kol. She rolled over and breathed easier. It was stupid because if she did actually manage to fall asleep it wasn't like facing him was going to change anything.

Her eyes were closed, but her breathing was short. She couldn't sleep, if anything she was tenser than she ever had been before in Kol's presence. Bonnie clutched the switchblade so tightly she was sure her knuckles were white.

"I'm not going to hurt you, little witch."

Kol's hand brushed a few stray hairs from her face and her breath caught in her throat.

"Shut up and let me sleep."

Kol chuckled and the bed vibrated from his laughter. Under the covers she could feel the warmth his body radiated and she had remind herself not to scoot closer. He smelled fresh like soap and a sharp cologne. There was also the scent of cigarettes and booze on him.

Slowly one muscle at a time her body relaxed and she drifted off to sleep.

XXX

The door slammed open and Bonnie flew up into a seated position. The knife was out, but before she could react the monks had deposited Katherine and Kai back in the room. Then they dragged her and Kol out of the room.

Bonnie looked over her shoulder and the last thing she saw when she was hauled into an interrogation room was Kol fighting to get free and reach her.

Oh my God, Bonnie thought as she was thrown into a wooden chair. Did Kol actually like her? This was the second time in less than twenty-four hours she'd had that thought. There must be something to it.

Pearl strode into the room. She looked incredible as always, but Bonnie saw the dark circles under her eyes. It looked like interrogating the school about the fight had kept her up all night.

Good because Bonnie had actually slept some. And she was willing to bet she was used to running on a lot less sleep than Pearl.

The monks strapped Bonnie into the chair. She hissed and snarled, struggling to get free as they strapped her wrists and upper body in. One of the monks reached for her legs and she kicked him in the face. A second monk grabbed her legs while a third one strapped her in.

"You have only been here four days, how could you possibly be in trouble already?" Pearl said looking at Bonnie with disappointment in her eyes.

Bonnie shrugged or tried to. "My classmates are a really bad influence, I guess."

Pearl slammed her cane on the back of Bonnie's hand. The blow was hard and fast, it felt as if her hand was on fire and she screamed. Her hand throbbed and she started to sob in pain.

"Who was responsible for nearly murdering Hayley Marshall?"

"Who?" Bonnie said between sobs.

Even with the pain coursing through her, she had been through worse. Her mind recognized the pain, it flooded her with fear, but it also helped remind her she had been in worse situations before. And the Nightwalkers wanted her to get close to Kol and she needed the Nightwalkers. Otherwise, she was fair game for them and the Dixie Mob, there was no way she would survive until graduation with that many people out to kill her. Even Pearl had warned her.

But that was good. It gave her a mission, something to focus on. And that meant even if Kol had told her to blame him, she couldn't just give him up. Kai and Katherine had been gone for hours if Bonnie caved in a matter of minutes, he would know. Then he would never trust her, but if she could withstand Pearl's interrogation for as long as possible – then maybe just maybe Kol would start to trust her.

"Hayley Marshall the leader of the Dixie Mob," Pearl said circling her. "I believe she is among your tormentors. Is that what happened? She tried to kill you and you got the better of her?"

"No," Bonnie said in a defiant voice.

The pain in her hand was lessening, making it easier to think again.

"No?" Pearl slammed the cane back down on her hand and Bonnie screamed. This time she heard something snap and she was convinced her hand was broken. "Then tell me, what happened?"

"I don't know. Hayley came out of nowhere and someone knocked her back. After that I don't know."

Pearl's eyes narrowed and she raised the cane once more.

XXX

Kol didn't make a sound as Meredith their Poisons teacher brought the cane back down on his hand. It burned like nothing else, but he had been trained in the art of withstanding interrogation since childhood. This was nothing new.

Naturally, he could simply admit it was all his doing however, that would not look good for his reputation. Better if the finger was pointed at him and he remained silent. It was more fitting of an assassin and future crime lord.

"Who nearly killed Hayley Marshall?" Meredith repeated.

Kol grimaced and looked at her. "I don't know. Could have been anyone. The Dixie Mob has more enemies than they can count, which in all fairness isn't very high. But what can you expect from inbred Nazies?"

The cane came out of nowhere and it sliced his cheek open. Kol groaned and blinked trying to clear his vision. He saw black spots and colors.

"Look, I get it," Meredith said calmly. "I don't like them either. No one does. In fact, most of the faculty thinks they're pieces of human garbage, but Hayley is a student at King's and the murder of students is not allowed."

"I wish I could help you. Really, I do," Kol spit blood and grinned. It was no doubt far less charming than his usual smile however, it would have to do. "Unfortunately, I didn't see anything."

Meredith sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Seriously?" she put her hands on her hips and stared him down. "I have more than half a dozen witnesses, who claim they saw you beat the shit out of her for attacking the new girl."

"Oooh, Bonnie. She's a knock-out," Kol whistled. "Truly beautiful in a way that's all too rare and she's just a little mad as well, which is precisely my type. But here's where your wrong. Your theory hinges on the ludicrous idea that I have feelings for someone, which is impossible."

Meredith aimed the cane for his family jewels this time and he groaned.

"Don't waste my time and don't waste your time telling poorly constructed lies. I really thought you knew better."

"What can I say? I'm a rebel."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "I know Bonnie is your pledge. What she does is your responsibility so if you attacked Hayley to stop Bonnie from doing it well there might be some leniency in it for you."

Meredith was offering immunity in exchange for a confession. Kol thought about her offer.

**Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! What did you think of this chapter? What do you think Kol is going to do about Meredith's offer? **

**\- Izzy**

**Guest: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! Yes, Kol definitely has a soft spot for Bonnie. He can't fully understand it or explain it himself. If I can get the editing done for Timeless it will be updated next Sunday. **


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

**Shoutouot to the anon on tumblr, who loves the whole Kol struggling with his feelings for Bonnie thing. There's more of that in this chapter so hope you like it! **

Kol smirked at Meredith. He wasn't going to confess although he admitted it was a good plan. Give him immunity in exchange for a confession.

"I don't know what to tell you, but I didn't do it. I wasn't even present as you know alcohol and drugs are not prohibited at King's Dominion."

Meredith narrowed her eyes and hit him once more with her cane. This time in the knee. Kol grit his teeth and tried to bare the frissons of pain that wracked through him starting at his knee.

Bloody hell, if he didn't know any better, he would have thought something was broken.

"Cut the crap. I can smell the alcohol on your breath from here."

"Really?" Kol raised eyebrows. "I've never tried as much as a drop of it in my life."

Kol wasn't even surprised when she raised the cane this time.

XXX

Bonnie really had no idea how long she had been sitting there.

"Here is the thing, Bonnie," Pearl paced the chair she was strapped in to. "We already know it was Kol. The question is why?"

"I don't know," Bonnie said and winced preparing herself for a blow.

Pearl came to a stop in front of her and folded her hands together. "You truly do not know why a young man would risk his place at King's for a girl?"

Bonnie shook her head. "I really don't get Kol. He does a lot of things and I understand maybe like one in three of his crazy actions?"

She would have liked to keep lying, but every part of her hurt. And she feared if she didn't confess soon, she was going to suffer permanent damage and she already had enough scars.

Pearl smirked. "I believe you. You're free to go."

"What about lockdown?"

"That is still on. Every member of the school must be interrogated. And then the wrongdoers will be sentenced to detention for the cardinal crime of getting caught. So you have that to look forward to."

The monks unstrapped Bonnie and she collapsed on the ground. One of them grabbed her under the arms and dragged her back to Kai's room. They flung her inside unceremoniously. Two seconds later, Kol followed.

"Hey," he said cracking a smile.

His face was bloody and his one eye was swollen. Bonnie tried to sit up, but her shoulder made that impossible. She settled for raising her head to look up at him.

"Hey," she breathed. "You look like shit."

Kol snorted and coughed it almost sounded like a laugh. "Yeah, because beaten and bloody is your best look as well, darling."

"Shut up."

Bonnie pulled herself up and every muscle in her body protested, but she managed to make it onto Damon's bed. To her annoyance, Kol followed her.

"Scoot over, darling. You're hogging the bed."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"No. I'd never be so foolish as to call an armed woman fat."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but moved over.

"Yeah, he's totally _not _your boyfriend," Kai chimed in.

Bonnie could have strangled him for being so entirely unhelpful.

"Do you ever shut up, mate?" Kol drawled.

His voice was lazy, but Bonnie saw the tension in his jaw and the hardness in his eyes, it spoke volumes.

"Hey, Kitty-Kat you wanna snuggle me?" Kai said wiggling his eyebrows at Katherine.

"As if," Katherine scoffed.

"Ri-ight," Kai drew the word out. "You only snuggle, 'Lijah," he pitched his voice into a high-falsetto that was a fairly accurate imitation of Katherine.

"I don't sound like that," Katherine said. "Someone tell me I don't sound like that."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you do sound like that," Kol said.

"Oh my God, will this lockdown ever end?" Bonnie grumbled.

"Hm," Kol said thoughtfully. "They must have run through half of the school by now, so what do you think Katherine? Free by tonight?"

"For sure."

XXX

As it turned out, lockdown was not over by the end of the day. The monks let them out for meals and to use the bathrooms. They even sent in some medical supplies for the students that needed them.

Bonnie raced to claim Damon's bed. She glared at Kol when he climbed in, but otherwise didn't complain. Even after the first aid she still felt like a walking bruise. Katherine had made a better bed on the floor out of the spare blankets and pillows now that Bonnie wasn't occupying the other half of the floor.

Bonnie lay awake until she Kai and Katherine's snores. Kol must have still been awake, but no matter how hard she told herself to be on guard around him, she honestly didn't think he was going to kill her in his sleep. Katherine and Kai probably weren't going to either, but they did seem more likely.

She rolled onto her side and gasped in surprise. Kol was already facing her. His eyes were open and he cracked an amused smile. He reached out and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. She let him, which she told herself she only did because it was her mission. But that didn't explain the tingle of warmth that went through her when his fingers stroked her cheek in a featherlight touch. Her breath caught in her throat.

But maybe this was better if she kind of liked Kol in spite of herself. A long time ago she had watched a documentary about the mob in New York with her dad. The undercover agent that brought down the operation had spent years undercover. And lots of time with some of the capos. He'd said of course he liked them. He couldn't have spent all that time pretending to be their friend if he didn't.

"You know you're beautiful," Kol murmured. His voice was barely a whisper, just a low murmur and if they hadn't been so close they were almost touching, she wouldn't have heard him.

"And you're not half as smooth as you think you are," Bonnie whispered back.

Kol chuckled and had to cover his mouth to keep from waking the others. She smiled in spite of herself. The truth was, Kol was charming and she found herself wishing he would stroke her cheek again. It had been so long since anyone's touch hadn't made her feel threatened. Until this moment, she hadn't realized how much she craved touch. Needed to feel another living human being in a way that wasn't violent. It was like she had been starving and Bonnie would know, she had been underfed for a long time now.

After a while, Kol finally pulled himself together. He winked at her.

"If I were, I'd be in your knickers by now."

Bonnie blushed. She wasn't certain, but she thought knickers meant panties. And judging by the context, it was definitely what he meant.

"Boys," she said with an unimpressed snort.

Bonnie was impressed with herself. The truth was, she was absolutely embarrassed by his remark. And something else, a feeling she wasn't even sure if was what she thought. But she felt too hot all over again and had that same strange desire for him to touch her.

Kol moved soundlessly closer and she waited with bated breath to see what he would do. She raised her knee, her hand subtly moving closer to her knife. But as it turned out, it was unnecessary. Kol slid his arm underneath her and wrapped her up in his other. He pulled her flush against his chest. When she froze, he tucked her head underneath his chin.

She couldn't breathe. This was too weird. His warmth radiated off him and she could feel his hard muscles. He was big almost like his body was going to swallow her whole. Instead of scaring her or making her feel small, she felt safe. Which was insane because Kol was a killer just like her, the last thing she should feel was safe.

"So tense," he murmured and his hand rubbed the back of her neck, coaxing her to relax. His palm was rough and strong.

"What are you doing?" she asked in a choked voice.

"I just want to touch you a little. Would you like me to stop?"

"I - I -" Bonnie's voice faltered. "I - I - I d-d-don't know."

"I can if you'd like me to."

Bonnie was half-tempted to tell him to let go. But it felt so good be engulfed in his warmth. She could feel the strength of his biceps and pressed herself closer. Kol took that as encouragement and wrapped his arms more securely around her.

"Don't let go," she whispered so quietly she hoped he could hear her.

"I won't."

"But if you try anything, I will stab you."

Again, Kol chuckled. He ran his fingers teasingly down her spine. She shivered and pressed herself closer without meaning to.

"You can rest easy, beautiful."

Bonnie wasn't entirely sure that was true even though her instincts told her it was. Nonetheless, she was so starved for touch that she buried her face in his chest. Kol smelled like sweat and soap, she could feel the faint whiff of cologne. It had almost faded, but she thought it had been leathery and masculine. It was comforting and soon she drifted off to sleep.

XXX

Kol spent a restless night watching Bonnie sleep in his arms. He could have kicked himself for being such a fool. But he had been unable to resist touching her, learning what her body felt like in his arms. Yet he knew it was a mistake. It was too close to being soft and gentle, it wasn't something he should ever feel.

Bonnie clung to him. Her small frame glued to his and he felt her curves. Her breasts were pressed against his chest and he felt himself harden just at the feel. How he wanted her, but he knew she was skittish. It was why, he was slowly trying to ease her into the idea of something romantic between them. Which was in and of itself foolish as it implied he had real feelings. Kol didn't feel things. Especially not warm fuzzy things toward a girl he scarcely knew.

That was why when the lockdown broke before dawn, he rose, careful not to wake Bonnie. But Katherine was up and she smirked at him.

"Why don't you wake the girl?" Katherine asked in a whisper.

Kol shook his head. "Will you -"

"Make sure Damon doesn't tear her throat out when he finds her in his bed? Or worse? Of course."

Katherine winked and took his place in the bed. Kol went to find a way to make him feel more like himself again.

Kol knew Katherine wouldn't question his desire to protect Bonnie. Perhaps she would wonder silently to herself, but since Bonnie was his pledge, it only made sense he would attempt to keep her out of trouble. After all, anything Bonnie messed up would be on him. Yet his duties did no expand to keeping her alive so why then did he care?

He wished he could answer that however, he didn't know himself.

Instead of pondering why he had a soft spot for Bonnie, he decided to do what he originally set out to. Hayley and her Dixie Mob was nowhere to be seen, but he knew where to find them. The only stop he made was by his dorm room to change his clothes and grab his baseball bat.

Off campus murders were permitted. So long as he covered his tracks he did not particularly fear retaliation from Hayley's family. Compared with the Mikaelsons the Dixie Mob weren't even a blip on the radar.

XXX

Bonnie woke with a start the way she always did now. There were arms around her and she struggled to get free, but they pulled her back down to themselves.

"C'mon, don't you wanna cuddle?" a female voice purred.

"Katherine?" Bonnie exclaimed and shoved Katherine's arms off her. "What are you doing?"

"Getting a few extra minutes of beauty sleep," Katherine yawned and stretched. "But I have to admit, sleeping is overrated without someone to snuggle."

"How about you don't snuggle me in the future and I won't stab you?"

Katherine rolled her eyes. "You didn't seem to mind when Kol was the one snuggling you," she tussled her hair and yawned. "Whatever, I haven't seen Lijah in forever, I think I'll go find him."

"No offence, but you might want to shower first."

Katherine scowled, but then she did sniff herself and wrinkle her nose. "That's terribly rude, but since you have a point, I guess I will let it slide."

Katherine jumped off the bed. She gave a teasing little wave with her fingers and disappeared. Bonnie realized, she probably didn't want to be found by either Damon or Kai when they returned got to her feet as well.

Just as she went through the doorway, Damon was there. Damon blocked her way with a smarmy smile. His ice blue eyes widened menacingly.

"Well what do we have here? Were you waiting for me, witchy?"

Bonnie growled in annoyance. All of these witch nicknames were seriously starting to piss her off. Surreptitiously, she slid her hand to the back of her skirt and her hands gripped the switchblade.

"I am not in the mood, so I'm warning you to back up now."

"Ooh, threats. I like it," Damon smirked and made crazy eyes at her again.

"Ugh," Bonnie tried to shove past him, but he blocked the way. "Back off."

Her hand was still on the switchblade so when Damon reached for her, it was easy. She withdrew it and it sprang open with the lightest of touches. After entering King's she had been given numerous weapons, but none fit as comfortably in her hand as the knife.

On pure instinct, she kicked out his knee. One punch to the throat and he collapsed. She kicked him when he was down and kneeled over him. She pressed the blade to his throat and grinned.

"Touch me again and I will kill you, got it?"

"Why? When it's so delicious to have your hands all over me," Damon said with another smarmy smile.

Again, he laughed, but it was hoarse and he coughed.

"Look at me," Bonnie snarled. "Do I look like I'm screwing around?"

"No, you look mad as hell," again he flashed that smarmy smile.

Something inside of Bonnie broke. She slammed his head into the floor. It hit with a resounding crack and she smiled. Damon's eyes shut and she checked his pulse. Not out of any concern for his well-being, but because she had no intentions of defying Pearl's rules. The last thing she needed was to get kicked out of King's.

XXX

Bonnie had her first shift at the Quarter. It was stressful to say the least. She had never worked a register like this one before or mixed a drink, but Celestia was at her side showing her the ropes. It would have been easier if Marcel hadn't sat down at the bar to study her. His dark eyes followed her and a chill ran down her spine.

There was no doubt in her mind, Marcel was watching her performance tonight just as closely as he did her performance with Kol. He was looking for weakness or any sign of failure.

But Bonnie felt like she was starting to get the hang of it. She couldn't make anything too fancy yet, but with Celestia's help and supervision, she could mix most things. And she had Cuba Libre down pat.

What was almost worse than Marcel's watchful eye was the way he didn't order a drink. He just tapped the rim. It clinked lightly. Just like he did now.

Tamping down on her annoyance, she refilled his scotch glass. Celestia had told her she was only supposed to do two-fingers full, but Marcel always got twice that. Celestia had told her in a whisper it was because Marcel rarely came by the bar. When he did, he liked to indulge. And since, Bonnie wanted to survive, she didn't argue or question it.

"Talked to Mikaelson today, baby girl?" Marcel was still staring at his textbook as he asked, but she knew a lot was riding on her answer.

"Not since yesterday. I'm keeping my distance. It's time he seeks me out."

Now that was a blatant lie, but Bonnie put on a charming smile. The truth was, she had been all over King's dominion today without catching as much as a glimpse of Kol. He hadn't even bothered to wake her this morning when he left.

"Interesting tactic," Marcel's smile was sly. "Guys like Mikaelson love a good chase. They're arrogant enough they assume any girl, who doesn't throw themselves at him must be worth the chase."

"Kind of what I was thinking," Bonnie agreed. "But why do you have it in for Kol?"

"Lot of reasons," Marcel said and looked away.

Bonnie followed his gaze and she suspected there was a lot more at work here than just Marcel's desire to take down Kol. Just as she knew his alliance with Klaus wasn't all it appeared to be. But she was their newest recruit and based on her reputation, she didn't appear either sane or trustworthy. She could only hope they would tell her everything in time.

XXX

Kol snuck back into King's late that night. He was creeping through the garden and hoped none of the monks caught him. He was drunk and covered in blood, but he had his faithful bat with him. If any of them caught him there was a decent chance, he could knock them out before they figured out, which student was breaking half of Pearl's rules.

Kol was well aware they would never expel a Mikaelson. The guild that ran King's was connected, powerful and shrouded in mystery. However, even they were not fool enough to start a war with the Mikaelsons. That said, they would not think twice about torturing him just as they had done last night.

If Kol were being honest with himself, he would admit he was still in a great deal of pain. In fact, he likely wouldn't be entirely healed from his treatment for another few weeks. But Bonnie didn't appear to have fared too bad. Which was his real trouble. He didn't feel like himself. He was too fascinated by her, showed her kindnesses he never did anyone outside of his family.

That was why, he had gotten wasted and decided to kill an entire bar filled with people. It had been easy to slip past the bouncer and just as he had suspected the bouncer had come running inside when the brawl started.

No one had escaped.

To cover his crime, he had made it look like arson. He poured gasoline on each of the bodies and burned the place to the ground. It had been one of his more successful nights out and Kol was still amazed by his own speed and skill with the bat.

Before he went to the bar he had tracked down Hayley outside of King's. He had wounded her, but he suspected the injuries were fatal. In all likelihood she would be dead before dawn. As he crept through the silent grounds hidden by the shadows the last person, he expected to stumble onto was Bonnie. But of course, she was here in his spot smoking a cigarette. He was under the impression, she enjoyed it as a hiding spot as much as he himself did.

"Now what are you doing here, little witch?"

Kol sat down next to her and lit a cigarette of his own.

XXX

"Same thing as you I guess."

Bonnie was careful not to look too much at Kol. Marcel was right about one thing, playing hard to get was her best bet. Especially after the way he had just left her there asleep. And she actually hadn't come here looking for him. Not really.

But this was Kol's place and that made it the one place in King's where she actually felt safe. It wasn't even a conscious choice she had just wondered what might be a safe place to have a breather and a cigarette. Of their own volition her feet had moved. Next thing she knew she was here. And she didn't even want to think what it meant that she felt safe in Kol's spot. Especially not with that she was doing.

It was just a long-con and a murder like any other. She had committed those before, but hopefully, she wouldn't have to be the one to do the deed. Marcel seemed to be looking for an opportunity more than he had an actual plan, which was alarming. There was too much room for error.

"I doubt we are doing the same thing," Kol said exhaling a cloud of smoke. "I am sneaking in."

"From where?" it was first then she looked at him properly. He was drenched in blood. Most of it was dried by now and his hair was covered in it. There was a faint smell of gasoline and soot clinging to him. "Oh."

"It'll be our little secret."

"Was it a job? An assignment or just for fun?"

Kol looked strained and he didn't answer. That told her all she needed. "What I do is no business of the Nightwalkers."

"I wasn't -" she realized her protests were feeble. "I guess not. Thought we were allies?"

"Allies yes however, I'm no fool."

Bonnie's cigarette was down to the stub and she put it out.

"I should go. See you around."

She jumped off ledge and he caught her wrist. It was a light touch, one she could easily break if she wanted to. And she knew without knowing how she knew that he wanted her to be able to get away if she wished. She pulled her wrist out of his grasp.

"Bonnie -" Kol almost sounded sorry. She turned around and saw he was watching her with a rueful expression. "I didn't mean you needed to go, beautiful."

The corners of her lips twitched upwards, but it wasn't a full smile. "I know, but I should go anyway."

"See you in class."

Bonnie nodded and started to walk away.

"Watch your back, little witch."

At King's a statement like that from anyone else would have sounded like a threat. Instead, coming from Kol it made her smile.

Bonnie entered her dorm room just as Hayley was returning from the infirmary. There were a couple of her Dixie Mob members with her. They held doors for her as she hopped along on her crutches and there was a neck brace around her throat. There were big bruises around her eyes and her face was swollen. Her left arm was in a sling and it all looked terribly awkward. If Hayley had been anything except a Nazi, she might have felt sorry for her.

Instead, Bonnie flashed a wicked smile and went straight into her dorm. Unfortunately, Rebekah was lounging on her bed. She gave Bonnie a snide look. Bonnie wasn't certain, but she suspected Rebekah had started to hate her around the time Kol started to like her.

"What did I do now?" Bonnie asked with a heavy sigh.

Rebekah smirked and there was a malicious glint in her green eyes. "Nothing, I suppose. Though might I suggest you stop making moon eyes at my brother?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Oh, dear," Rebekah crossed her legs and eyed Bonnie. "It's bad enough I am forced to share my room however, do me the courtesy of honesty."

"Still don't know what you're talking about."

And it was true. The only moon eyes Bonnie ever made at Kol were carefully calculated. But Rebekah was implying there was something genuine behind it. There wasn't and it allowed Bonnie the opportunity to deny her accusations without being a liar. Which of course, was an absurd distinction for a killer and an assassin in training. Yet Bonnie found it mattered to her not to sink any lower than strictly necessary.

"Katherine is a gossiping bitch, which is exactly why I find her useful. I heard all about your little cuddle session with Kol."

Bonnie froze and her heart pounded in her chest. She should have known better than to do anything of the sort when there were others present. Finally, she managed to don the same indifferent mask all of her classmates wore.

"It was cold in the room and your brother is hot."

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "It's just a friendly warning. I don't know what game you're playing or Marcel, but if you try anything, I will kill you in your sleep."

A shiver ran down her spine as there was no doubt in her mind, Rebekah meant it.

"I'm not playing a game," Bonnie snapped. "Like I said I was cold and your brother is hot."

"Just a fair warning," Rebekah said and took out a magazine. She flipped through it and Bonnie sat down at her vanity to remove her makeup. "You were smart to start wearing makeup. Makes you look scarier. Perhaps you won't be dead within the month after all."

Bonnie felt a cold shiver run down her spine.

"Did I ask for your opinion?"

Rebekah snorted. "You're feisty. But that's really no way to say thank you."

"It wasn't your doing so once again I don't owe you or the rest of your family anything."

Bonnie saw Rebekah's eyes narrow in the mirror.

"What else has Kol done for you?"

"Nothing," Bonnie replied in a venomous voice. "It was one assignment."

Rebekah pursed her lips, but she fell silent. Which was a relief as Bonnie was growing tired of listening to everyone interfere with her and Kol. The last thing she could handle was the guilt of Rebekah's suspicion. After all, she was planning to kill her brother.

XXX

Kol was furious when he walked into the dining hall and saw Hayley was still alive. Definitely bruised and better yet she had escaped their encounter alive. He had hoped the knock he gave her head with his baseball bat would have finished her off over the night, but no such luck. However, her neck brace, bandage on her head and broken arm were gratifying. Unfortunately, she was still well enough to manage a smirk in his direction.

With his mood reaching a dangerous low, Kol sat down with his family. Nik was watching him with a curiosity Kol did not appreciate. However, just as he had ignored Hayley, he ignored Nik.

"I thought you were going to kill the Nazi. For your pet Nightwalker," Nik said obviously tired of being overlooked.

Kol felt his grip tighten around his butter knife until it was all he could do to keep from stabbing Nik.

Yes, Bekah and Katherine were right. It was time, he dealt with Nik once and for all.

"She interrupted a conversation I was having," Kol growled. "And you of all people should know how dangerous I am when crossed, brother."

"Enough," Elijah said.

And as usual Nik paid Elijah no mind.

"Really? So it's not because you're lusting after the little hobo?"

"Niklaus -" Elijah began.

Katherine draped her arm around his shoulder and tugged on his tie playfully.

"Oh, let them squabble, 'Lijah," Katherine purred. Then as if she realized she had spoken in front of Klaus, she grew pale and drew closer to Elijah.

"Do not presume to lecture me, brother," Nik said turning to Elijah. "Here you are cozying up to the spy in our midst."

Elijah's eyes hardened and he stared at Nik as he always did when he was out of line. Yet Kol knew he would never do anything about it, never betray Nik. Just as always, Elijah was foolishly loyal to Nik.

No, not loyal, Kol mentally amended. He was subservient.

"Because Caroline spurns your advances the rest of us must follow you into celibacy?" Kol demanded. "I think not."

Nik grew red with anger. Kol smirked.

XXX

Bonnie crept after Rebekah and Kai through a window. She did her best to keep up all the while matching their silent gaits. It was more difficult than she would have liked, they appeared to know exactly where to step even in the darkness. She put her foot down and felt carpeting. When she looked up, Rebekah was gone and she scurried after her.

There was a loud crash as her foot collided with a toy firetruck. It hit the wall and the siren went off. It howled as the lights flashed. Rebekah turned around in time to give her a furious look before someone was on them.

Kai struck with his bare hands. He grabbed the attacker and threw him into the wall. Bonnie stood frozen for a second, mesmerized by his sheer strength.

How had he done that?

The attacker was dressed in a gaudy tracksuit, one that kept distracting Bonnie when she knew logically she should be trying to help Kai. Fortunately, Rebekah wasn't as distracted by the fashion crime taking place. She looked alert.

Their attacker headbutted Kai and he hit the ground, unconscious. Rebekah roared and drew her two knives from her hair. She slashed at the attacker and he jumped away at the last second. The sai – a Japanese knives slashed open the tracksuit. Something soared through the air and hit Rebekah.

Bonnie knew she should stay and fight, but she also knew she would never win. But she was smaller and faster than the man. She ducked under his arms and ran away. She came into a living room. Something heavy landed on her and she reached out with her hand. She grabbed the first thing she could find, turned around and hit him on the head. It turned out to be a heavy landline.

The man groaned, but scrambled to grab the phone from her. Bonnie knew she should be panicked, but instead all of the sudden she was clearer than ever. It was as if everything moved in slow motion and she knew exactly what to do.

Bonnie wrapped the cord around his neck and yanked. His face started to turn red, but she didn't let up until he slammed his hand against the floor three times. That was the signal. She let go fast as if she had burned herself and struggled to her feet.

Alaric was on his feet a second later. His face was still red and he wheezed. He covered his mouth with his hand as he coughed. He waved his other hand at her and stopped coughing to grin. He clapped and one of the students turned the light on. Alaric's staple tracksuit came into even clearer focus and Bonnie winced at the gaudiness.

Kai and Rebekah showed up in the living room. They looked furious and shot a few murderous glances in Bonnie's direction. She knew what they were thinking, her clumsiness had blown this for them. She took a step back wanting to fade into the background.

"You two," Alaric said pointing at Rebekah and Kai. "F. Big ole fail."

"What the hell?" Kai growled.

Rebekah gaped before her expression settled into a mask of pure fury. "You're joking! She was the one that almost blew it!"

"Fucking right!" Kai said. "She's the one that made a racket!"

"Because she stomps around like a giant man!" Rebekah cried.

"Hey!" Alaric shouted just loud enough to break through the din. The room fell silent. "Nah, in life nothing goes perfect. There's always a fuckup, a moment where your life is in the balance. And now Bonnie here she moved with the fuckup. A-typical combat is all about dealing with the unexpected, moving with the fuckup and grabbing that phone? Well that was a stroke of pure genius. And that's how you survive. So the A goes to you, little girl."

Bonnie bristled at the term 'little girl', but when she saw the teasing smile Alaric sent her way, she was less offended. Mr. Saltzman was maybe the only teacher, who didn't think she was a psychopath. If he did then he wouldn't have given her an A or teased her.

"What the hell?" Kai exclaimed.

Bonnie hated to agree, but she kind of did. She was happy for the A because it helped secure her place at King's. That said, she couldn't help feeling like she didn't truly deserve it.

"You think I didn't get in some rough spots when I worked for the mob? Because I did and working for the Salvatores taught me one simple thing, when it's just you against your opponent, the only thing kept me alive was thinking on my feet. So shut up, use your environment and stay alive. I took you two's out. But Bonnie here took me out. That's an A."

The bell rang and Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief. She fled to her next class, all too happy to get out of there.

XXX

By the time lunch came around Bonnie was mentally and physically exhausted. Posters for the class president election had somehow appeared between now and breakfast. Bonnie had briefly noticed them in the hallways, but she hadn't paid them much attention. Since the only candidate in the running was now standing right by the entrance to the cafeteria with a table filled with campaign memorabilia, it was difficult not to notice.

Amidst it was a black and blue Hayley. Her neck brace and crutches made for a painful sight, but Bonnie was disappointed to see her acting like she owned the school.

Bonnie stopped in front of her and looked her over. Hayley sneered at the sight of her.

"I don't need your vote," Hayley hissed. "Father killer."

"It's patricide," Bonnie said with exasperation. "And as if I would ever vote for a Nazi. I have a brain."

"Who knew your little red neck brain could even spell?" Celestia said with a condescending smile.

"For your information, I plan to take over the political world. Imagine how many more people I can kill with an army to back me."

Bonnie felt her blood run cold. All of the people Hayley would kill, the list of potential targets seemed endless. People of color, anyone with a different religion, anyone, who wasn't straight. That cold fear turned into a boiling hot rage. One that burned like a white light. Her body acted of its own accord, she shoved Hayley and she ended up in the trash.

Bonnie moved to finish the job. She didn't look, somehow her switchblade was in her hand like an extension of herself. But then someone had a hand on her arm, she turned around and saw Celestia.

Celestia shook her head. "No, be smart. We'll take care of this later. Privately. Just how the trash should be taken out."

"Fine," Bonnie said from between clenched teeth. Her hand moved on its own again and she flipped the switchblade closed. "But I want to kill the bitch."

Pearl materialized out of nowhere. "Trouble here, girls?"

"No," Bonnie said and shook her head.

"Of course not, Miss Pearl," Hayley agreed quickly.

Pearl shot Hayley a look like she doubted her words, but made no argument.

"Good."

Pearl turned on her heels and hurried away. Her heavy skirts swung around her figure as she disappeared.

Bonnie shot a threatening look at Hayley before walking away with Celestia.

As much as she doubted whether or not she really wanted to be a Nightwalker, she had to admit it was a step up from being a rat. Especially when they were in line and she noticed the Mystic Falls crew circling April. Their movements were too calculated for Bonnie to think it was just a coincidence.

Bonnie looked around for any sign of the monks and saw none. It was like the one time she actually needed them they were all gone.

"Stay cool, girl," Celestia said in an undertone.

"She's my friend."

"I don't give a fuck if she is your sister. At King's you don't give a shit about anyone outside of your crew if you want to stay alive."

"But Katherine -"

"Defected from the Mystic Falls crew for that specific reason."

"Shit."

Bonnie had just had the lunch added to her tray when the inevitable trouble broke out. Celestia was just ahead of her in line. She jerked her head indicating the table where the Nightwalkers all ate.

"C'mon girl. Just walk away from the chaos."

And Bonnie really wanted to. She was unbelievably tempted to just walk away because after a year of craziness, she was almost safe a good deal of the time now.

So why would she fuck that up?

But then she saw Damon sprinkle something on April's food when she wasn't looking. The stuff was white and powdered. She had a sneaky suspicion it was cocaine and if April was coked out of her mind, Pearl would expel her.

"Don't eat that," Bonnie said in a quiet whisper to April.

"What?" April asked eyeing her.

Bonnie nodded to her tray and glanced at Damon, who was watching their exchange with narrowed eyes and flared nostrils.

"Careful, Bon-Bon," Damon crooned. "Not so long since you were a rat yourself."

"Shut up, Damon."

"Oooh, sassy," he winked at her. "But I could think of better uses for that pretty little mouth."

Bonnie saw red. "I will slit your throat from ear to ear next time you close your eyes."

"Let's go, Damon," Elena said in a voice that was both impatient and whiny.

"Consider your crew marked," Celestia said with a cold look at Damon.

Bonnie followed her back to their table. The last she saw of April was that she dumped her food in the garbage.

"Making friends?" Marcel commented when they sat down.

"Bonnie has a soft spot for the rats is all," Celestia said with a shrug. "No biggie."

Bonnie was grateful that Celestia didn't relay her threats. Especially not since, she knew she was edging dangerously close to a war with Mystic Falls.

"See to it that it doesn't get in the way of business, baby girl," Marcel said and shot her a serious look.

Bonnie nodded. She knew all too well what he meant. Her number one priority was meant to be getting close to Kol and she knew he was right. Any distraction and their plan was over before it began. Since that was the only reason the Nightwalkers had given her a second chance, she would be out in the cold if she fucked up.

"Speaking of, the Legacy Dance is coming up," Davina said eyeing Bonnie.

Whenever a Nightwalker gave Bonnie that look she had come to realize they were hinting at a way for her to get close to Kol. And since her life depended on it, she may as well play along.

"What's that?" Bonnie asked trying to at least look a little interested in seducing Kol.

"It's an annual dance where all the Legacy students attend. No rats," Celestia explained.

"Which means you just barely make the cut," Davina crooned.

"Lucky me," Bonnie muttered.

Bonnie pushed her food around on the tray. She didn't have much in the way of an appetite after everything that had happened the past few days. And now when Damon was watching her from his table her nausea increased. Especially when Stefan gave her a cold look. Rumors around King's had it that he was the truly insane brother.

"Cheer up, Bon," Celestia said with a smile. "It'll be fun. We will get all dressed up and dance a little. Sneak a few drinks."

"You should get your ticket when Mikaelson can see you," Marcel said.

Again, Bonnie nodded. Because at the end of the day everything always came back to her and Kol. She was fucking sick of it, but there wasn't much she could do about it.

"We'll head out and get our tickets together, Bon," Celestia offered.

Celestia was keeping an eye on the Originals out of the corner of her eye. There was no doubt in Bonnie's mind that if Kol moved as much as an inch, Celestia would see.

XXX

Kol was not particularly looking forward to the Legacy Dance. As far as he could tell it was just another night where he would be forced to wear a tux. He looked sharp in one, but he hated the bloody getups.

Didn't he get enough of this nonsense when he was at home? His mother adored any excuse for a party and as always her children were all forced to attend.

"C'mon, Kol. Please for me," Rebekah pouted.

"Anything for you, sister dear."

Kol smiled teasingly at his sister. He caressed her cheek and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. Her gaze softened and she smiled up at him in the way she used to when she was still a child. But then her eyes hardened and he remembered his baby sister was no longer a child.

"I'm an adult now," she hissed and glanced around to be sure no one had seen.

Kol on the other hand didn't care. His reputation at King's had long since been solidified as a monster. To the point where a gesture or two of affection toward his sister would not harm him. However, Rebekah was younger and newer to King's. She was still in the process of carving out a reputation for herself.

"My apologies."

Bonnie cut ahead of them in line. Along with another Nightwalker one of the pretty ones. Kol knew her a little as Celestia from a party last year. They had both been drunk and high, the result was they had made out, they hadn't spoken since. Which was only natural given that Marcel had attempted to kill him that night on Nik's orders.

Funny, he'd forgotten about that night until now.

Was that Marcel's plan with Bonnie? It was a possibility Kol allowed himself to consider as he studied Bonnie. She said something with a laugh to Celestia. The girls picked up their tickets and turned around.

Kol would have ordinarily allowed Bonnie to pass. Perhaps with a wink and a flirtatious remark. Not this time, he stood still and studied her. Bonnie froze and her eyes widened. She stared up at him, a little afraid however, mostly curious.

"Are you going to stand there all day, Kol?" she complained and crossed her arms.

Kol smirked. "Perhaps. The view is lovely."

Bonnie blushed.

"C'mon," Celestia grabbed her arm and pulled her in the opposite direction of Kol. "And you stay away from her."

Now that stopped any of Kol's ideas that Bonnie was an attempt to kill him. Perhaps Celestia was simply still angry that he hadn't spoken to her since their make out session. Or at least say hello, it wasn't as if _Celestia _had tried to kill him. That was before she was in Marcel's inner circle.

XXX

Bonnie enjoyed combat class most days even if she routinely got her ass kicked by Rebekah. The teacher, who taught the class was a woman named Isobel. Gossip had it that she had defected from the Mystic Falls crime syndicate because she was in love with Alaric. Or so Rebekah told her as they collected their dart blowers.

Bonnie now stood in line behind Stefan Salvatore. She couldn't see much ahead of her because of the height difference. She was growing impatient and shifted her weight from one foot to another. Then she tugged on the collar of the black hoodie with King's emblem. They were all wearing them and it was warm, but she didn't like how tight it felt around the neck. It was triggering that same level of panic as being touched did.

Finally, the line moved forward. Whoever shot the arrow missed the training dummy. Bonnie leaned around Stefan to see it was April. Her shoulders were hunched forward and she knew that meant April felt bad. Before she could say anything, Stefan had his arms around April. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hayley limp in.

Still alive, what a shame.

"Now you don't trouble yourself. The rest of us have been training since we were kids," Stefan said. He corrected April's technique. "It's all in the wrist."

What was that about? Bonnie wondered. Just earlier today Damon had tried to drug April and now Stefan was flirting with her. It didn't make any sense and Bonnie made up her mind to talk to April later. The rats often ate lunch on the roof, especially now that hazing had begun. Celestia told her to just ignore it if she didn't like it, but to leave it alone. Hazing rats was a time-honored tradition at King's apparently.

"You're holding up the line," Bonnie said when she grew sick of listening to Stefan flirt with April.

Stefan turned around and she met his expressionless stare. In his eyes there was nothing. But his lips quirked upward and he inclined his head in a way that was almost gentlemanly.

"Sorry about that. On you go, April."

April's aim was better this time, but it still wasn't great. Stefan turned around and followed her example. The only difference was that he hit the bull's eye.

Bonnie tried to block everything out and yet she still didn't hit the bull's eye. The only result was that she was out of breath and embarrassed. She walked to the back of the line.

"Stefan's a creep, but he's not wrong," Katherine said as she came up behind Bonnie. "The rest of us have been honing these skills since childhood."

"That doesn't seem fair. Why are you even here then?"

"To perfect our craft. Well that and make connections."

"Yeah, that's definitely not fair."

"Neither is life," Katherine tossed her hair and studied her nails.

That usually meant the conversation was over. Bonnie hadn't talked to Katherine much, but when they had talked in the past, she had discovered it was mostly because Katherine enjoyed the sound of her own voice. Once she was done, she was done.

After class, Bonnie hung back and helped the teacher put away the equipment. All of the other students had left, but she didn't mind. It gave her a moment to herself without the prying eyes of fellow students where she needed to put on a façade. Not even in her own room did she have any privacy.

Isobel eyed her as they put away the mats.

"I heard your conversation with Katherine," Isobel began slowly. "And you're right it isn't fair. Sometimes, I wonder if what we are doing here even means anything."

"Yeah, me too."

"Whatever the Nightwalkers offered you for their protection, don't do it. Just get out of here before graduation and the other rats should do the same. The hazing only gets worse."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Isobel looked at her with grave eyes. "Because like you said, it's not fair."

**Thank you so much to everyone, who has read, reviewed, faved and followed this fic. You're all the best! When I first started writing this, I wasn't sure it would really get any reads, but it has and it means the world to me. Let me know what you thought of this chapter and omg, the snuggles, did you die? I almost died writing something that fluffy. Finally, I hope everyone is safe and doing well in the midst of this COVID-19 insanity. **

**\- Izzy**

**Guest: You've reread them multiple times? Bless you! I squealed when I read your review (and then I reread it). Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I'm sorry updates have been sporadic, but one good thing about quarantine is I have a little extra time to write and update. **


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

Bonnie was still thinking about Isobel's warning the night of the Legacy Dance. It struck her as sound advice, but how could she make it happen? If she didn't get closer to Kol the Nightwalkers wouldn't want her. But if she got too close to Kol, he would be dead. And she didn't want that either. He hadn't done anything to her unlike everyone else she had killed. Even if she wasn't the one to pull the trigger it didn't make a difference.

"What's got you so down?" Celestia asked waving the crimper at her.

"Nothing."

"Nothing my ass," Rebekah scoffed. A lit cigarette dangled from her lips as she was in the process of feathering her hair. "She's moping because my brother didn't invite her to the dance."

"Excuse me?" Bonnie said raising an eyebrow.

"You heard me, rat. My brother didn't ask you and now you are dateless."

"That's so not what is going on here. And why do you care? It's not like you have a date either."

"I don't date. I'm nothing so common," Rebekah said exhaling in a cloud of smoke.

Sometimes Bonnie really hated her roommate and now was one of those times.

"Are you still hooking up with Kai on the reg?"

"When I'm not banging Stefan yes."

"Or Marcel," Celestia said with a laugh. "Don't make that face. Your affairs are the worst kept secret at King's."

Bonnie turned to face Rebekah and starred. "Are you serious?"

"Shut up the lot of you or I will slit both your throats in your sleep."

"Easy now," Celestia said. "We have a truce, remember?"

"Oh, that boring old thing," Rebekah stubbed out her cigarette. "But I should be off. Toodles."

The door slammed shut behind her.

"Motherfucker, she is high-maintenance," Celestia remarked. "How do you live with her?"

"She's not here much."

Celestia laughed. There was a knock on the door.

"That must be the boys. We should get going."

Celestia had a swig of peach schnapps. "Ah, now I'm ready."

Bonnie grinned and allowed herself to enjoy the moment. For just a second it was like she was a normal girl attending her first school dance. She was with one of her old friends and a group of boys were coming to escort them.

But then Celestia opened the door and the illusion shattered. That wasn't to say, Marcel and Jonah didn't look handsome. Because they did. But it reminded her this was just another step on her way to put Kol in the ground.

"You look nice, baby girl," Marcel said glancing in her direction. "Where's Mikaelson?"

"Not here."

"He's not your date?"

"I'm working on it, but I don't think he wants a girlfriend and he never relaxes."

"Then make him want one."

The implication of Marcel's words sent a chill down her spine.

XXX

Kol was in a foul mood when he was on his way to the Legacy Dance. Nik was already drunk and acting chummy with Elijah. Meanwhile, Kol was no closer to finding a way to kill him. There were a few options he was toying with, but none seemed right.

However, as he walked toward the dance with Rebekah he saw the perfect opportunity to amuse himself. Damon was hidden behind one of the lockers, sneaking a drink. And he hadn't heard them coming up behind him.

Kol smirked and as he drew closer, he grabbed Damon by the back of the neck. He slammed his face into the locker. Damon slid to the floor.

"Well that was fun," Rebekah said with an evil smile. "Now what are we going to do? I'm bored already."

"That's because you didn't have a hand in planning this event, sister dear."

"Oh, Kol. I'm certain there will be more opportunities for random violence."

"That sounds delightful. What do you say we orchestrate a few?"

"This is why you're my favorite brother."

Kol grinned and put his arm around Rebekah's shoulder. She shoved him off snarling about not messing up her hair.

They sat down at a table at the front of the room with the rest of the Originals. Kol grinned when he realized Nik had not yet arrived. But Katherine was there along with a few other members from their group. Kol was surprised to see the Nightwalkers occupying the table next to them. He studied Marcel and wondered if he was actually committed to murdering Klaus. There was a time when they had been friends.

Of course, there was also a time when Nik and Stefan had been friends. It was the only time Rebekah had been permitted to date. She was still furious that Nik had inevitably driven Stefan away by demanding blind obedience. Then had come Marcel, a bloody affair, which could have easily ended in Marcel's death. Now Rebekah didn't even dare sneak around with Marcel although the Nightwalkers believed she still did. The only one, who knew the truth was Marcel. Kol was counting on Marcel's fury to see this through.

Marcel walked in with a couple of other Nightwalkers. But the only one Kol saw was Bonnie. She was breathtakingly beautiful and he could see the damage in her eyes. In a fucked up way, it added to her beauty. As if her pain added to her looks. When she got that haunted look in her eye it brought out the green in them. And her hardness sharpened the contours of her face – and Kol could not believe he was thinking so much about one girl.

He must be off his rocker. Ordinarily, he didn't think about any of them for more than a second or two. He slept with them and moved on. But Bonnie was starting to prove a challenge. If he was a dick, she walked away. If he got too close, it spooked her. It was unlike anyone he had ever met before and it intrigued him to say the least.

So when she sat down at the table next to them, he turned his chair around. He straddled it and grinned at her. Bonnie barely glanced at him, instead she appeared more interested in the punch Jonah brought her.

"Care to give that a little kick, darling?" Kol teased. He surreptitiously showed her the hidden flask in his coat pocket in case the monks saw. It was not worth a beating to be caught with it. "It's the good stuff, I promise."

"No thank you," Bonnie said coldly and turned her back to him.

Now what could he have done to piss her off? He'd barely even seen her in days. Of course, he thought. Small wonder Rebekah called him an idiot because he was an idiot.

"Perhaps you will let me have the next dance?" he leaned in close and lowered his voice. "It would give me the opportunity to make amends."

"For what?"

"We've barely spoken and far be it from me to neglect such a beauty."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "No thank you. This isn't a date."

XXX

Bonnie was sure she must have lost her mind when she walked away from the table. More importantly when she walked away from Kol in front of Marcel. Hopefully Marcel would take it as a strategy rather than what it really was. She was running away because she couldn't do this to Kol.

Celestia came after her. They sat down on the stairs behind the gym. They drank schnapps and strawberry wine. Eventually Bonnie's head felt nice and blurry. It no longer bothered her that she was supposed to seduce Kol. It didn't exist. Neither did the feeling that she never wanted another man to touch her as long as she lived.

"You know I hate school dances," Celestia slurred. "Always a drag. It was the same thing back at my middle school."

"Where are you from? You never told me," Bonnie said having another swig of strawberry wine.

"Same place as Marcel. I'm from New Orleans, the French Quarter to be exact. My family was into the whole old school voodoo shit."

"Really?" Bonnie raised eyebrows and leaned in to hear better.

Once again, she found herself hearing another piece of her people's history. A painful and rich history. One that she didn't often think about until she ended up on the streets. She had grown up in a primarily white neighborhood and all of her friends were white. The color of her skin wasn't something she gave much thought to unless her Grams had been drinking and told her tales.

"Really," Celestia nodded. "My grand mere she swears her mother was Marie Laveaux, but I'm not sure I believe that."

"It's still cool. Do you know any spells?"

"Magic isn't real, Bonnie."

"I know that," Bonnie snorted. "You're the one, who said you came from the New Orleans hoodoo voodoo magic."

Celestia laughed. "That I did, cherie," her northern accent slipped and Bonnie heard the Creole. "But no, I can't cast spells. My grand mere taught me to read chicken bones. I'll tell you your fortune one day."

"I would love that."

"Now I know why you're at King's Wicked Witch, but anyone tell you how I ended up here?"

"No."

"My mother ran a voodoo shop and a brothel. Just doing what she had to do to get by. Put food on the table and whatever. One day this dirty cop comes knocking. He wants free service on the house in exchange for helping keep my ma's secret."

"What? He can't do that."

"No shit. Especially not when no one was on to my ma to begin with, thanks to Marcel's gang. Anyway, my mama turns him away and he comes back later that night. Holds every woman in there at gun point, rapes some and then kills them. He shot every last one of them."

Celestia downed the rest of the schnapps and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"I'm sorry about your family."

"My grand mere hid me in a laundry hamper, but I still saw everything. I was found days later between my mama and grand mere soaked in their blood. Marcel asked me to come to King's with him. Promised me if I stuck with him, I'd never be a victim again. And I haven't been."

"It sounds like Marcel and the Nightwalkers are your family now."

"They are and we're your family now too," Celestia glanced at her nervously and Bonnie knew what was coming. "Did you really kill your father?"

"No," Bonnie shook her head. "Not really."

"How does that -"

"Look, I don't want to talk about it."

Celestia looked as if she was contemplating pressing the issue. But Bonnie was for once relieved to see Damon Salvatore. He was drunk with a bottle in his hand. He staggered toward them and broke into a wide grin when he saw them. He was pulling Elena behind him. He had a steel grip on her wrist and she looked uncomfortable.

This was Katherine's twin?

Bonnie thought about the way Katherine had shimmied through the vent to Kai's room. All to survive Klaus. And what wouldn't Katherine do in the face of a dick like Damon? She would either be long gone before he got his hands on her or she would slit his throat. Bonnie felt sure, Katherine would never get caught in a situation this bad. Or maybe Bonnie overestimated Katherine and was now doing to Elena exactly what the world had done to her. Blaming the victim.

Of course, Bonnie wasn't certain she could ever be classified as a victim. She had survived and become stronger for it. Some would say a monster, but she was fine with that. She was alive and her attackers weren't.

"Well hello ladies," Damon said.

Elena sent them a wide-eyed plea for help.

"Why are you always manhandling some girl?" Bonnie asked. "You're disgusting, you know that, right?"

"Ooh someone's jealous. Don't worry, Bon-Bon. There's plenty of me to go around."

"Gross," Celestia wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah, so why don't you let Elena go and you can go die in a gutter or something?"

"Elena's none of your business," Damon said with a tense smile and a warning look. His eyes widened into another one of his crazy grimaces.

"Looks like you're hurting her," Bonnie rose to her feet and reached for her switchblade. "So unless you want -"

"Bonnie," Celestia said calmly and shook her head. "The Mystic Falls crew isn't worth tangling with. It's beneath us and not worth ruining your outfit over."

Elena's face was ghostly pale. Her lower lip wobbled and her eyes were large. Something about the look on her face kicked Bonnie's protective instincts into gear. Her feet planted more firmly into the ground and she flipped her switchblade open.

"I think I will."

Celestia shot her a warning look. "Don't be stupid. Marcel has ordered you to lie low. After what happened with Hayley you are on thin ice. Do you want to get expelled?"

Bonnie's knuckles tightened around the hilt until they turned white.

"What are you going to do, Bon-Bon?" Damon mocked. "Listen to your boss like a good girl or be the bad girl I know you are?"

That comment only served to further her anger. She lunged, but Celestia caught her by the arms. She pulled her back and Bonnie was forced to calm down. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Celestia by accident.

She closed the switchblade and Damon laughed. The sound made her blood rush to her head and she could hear a pounding noise in her ears. Elena's eyes were still terrified, but she managed a wobbly smile. A ghost of Katherine's smirk.

Katherine, the idea struck Bonnie like a lightning bolt. She smirked at Damon and followed Celestia back to the dance. Damon's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he didn't as much as move.

Once they were back at the dance, Bonnie found Katherine. She was sitting at a table staring at the couples dancing with a bored look on her face. Bonnie sat down next to her and Katherine eyed her slyly.

"Looking for Kol?"

"No, you actually."

"I'm flattered, but my heart belongs to Elijah," Katherine purred smoothly.

"Would you just listen to me?" Bonnie hissed under her breath. "Celestia and I just came from that way," she nodded in the general direction.

"Fascinating as your sense of direction isn't -"

"Damon had Elena by the arm and I think he's going to hurt her."

Bonnie met Katherine's eyes and enjoyed wiping the smug smirk from her face. Katherine's eyes narrowed and her lips pursed.

"Why should I care about her? Why do you? I don't think I've ever seen the two of you speak."

"You're her twin sister."

Katherine shrugged. "She chose to stay with the Mystic Falls crew. If she doesn't like the way the boss is treating her, she'll have to come to me."

"Well she hasn't. I'm not even sure she knows it's an option."

"It's not," Katherine sniffed. "Klaus doesn't trust me and he won't hesitate to kill her."

"Unless you convince Elijah to protect her."

Katherine glanced away as a guilty or maybe even a look of shame crossed her features. "He doesn't listen to me. Not over Klaus, never has and to be honest, I'm not sure what possessed him to disagree with Klaus when it was about me."

"I wouldn't know. Never had what you and Elijah have," Bonnie said. "But I used to have a family and right now yours needs you."

"That's rich coming from a girl, who killed her own father."

"I didn't kill him!"

Katherine appraised her for a moment before nodding. "I believe you. But if you've got such a big heart, why don't you do something to protect her?"

"Marcel wants me to lie low," Bonnie grimaced. "Believe me I would love nothing more than to run my knife through Damon, but I can't go against Marcel."

"No, you can't. Do you want to go back to being a rat or worse?"

"Not really. But Elena looked terrified. Isn't there something you can do?"

Katherine slanted an innocent look her way. "I could, but I will need backup and it might get messy. Just let me handle Elijah first."

Bonnie exhaled in relief. Finally, Katherine was snapped out her shock and back to her usual scheming ways.

"Good."

"Now go act normal."

"And do what?"

Bonnie had never been to a school dance before. She assumed acting normal meant gossiping with her friends and maybe even dancing with a boy.

The question was, did the same rules apply at King's?

"I don't know. Go talk to your people or dance with a friend. Better yet ask Kol to dance. I'm so tired of watching the two of you make lust-y eyes at each other. Just bang already."

"I don't make lust-y eyes at anyone," Bonnie hissed.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

In the next instant, Katherine was on her feet. She sauntered casually toward Elijah. Even from across the gym there was no missing her seductive smile or the way she pressed herself against Elijah.

A warm hand landed on her shoulder and Bonnie jumped. She spun around only to see Kol smiling one of his most dazzling smiles. The part of her that was still a normal teenage girl wanted to sigh and smile back at him.

"May I have this dance?"

"Are you kidding?"

"You're still angry I take it."

"Not angry. Just disinterested," Bonnie said eyeing his hand on her shoulder coldly. "And maybe you should move that hand if you want to keep it."

Kol quickly withdrew his hands and held them up. A lopsided smile played on his lips and there was no mistaking the amusement in his eyes. That in and of itself was infuriating because it meant Kol assumed he could take her.

"I'm terribly sorry I am not more of a gentleman. May I make it up to you with a dance?"

Bonnie knew Marcel would be furious if she told Kol to take a hike, but it was exactly what she wanted to tell him. Because even though she was playing a game, he didn't know that. And what he had done seriously sucked.

But she had a mission.

"You're not going to leave me alone until I say yes, are you?"

"Afraid not."

"Fine. One dance, but that's it. And if you try anything, I'll stab you."

Kol's eyes danced with mischief. "My that is an enticing proposition. Define _try something_."

"You know what I mean so don't act like you don't."

"As you wish."

Kol held his hand out to her. Bonnie hesitated, but only for a fraction of a second. He clearly had no interest in harming her. In a way that was almost worse. She had the worst feeling about what he was really after instead and she had no interest in things getting to physical. Maybe if she got really lucky Marcel would kill Kol before things went that far. Even her sense of humor had grown so dark she was no longer certain if she should laugh or scream.

Kol's palm was rough against hers and he led her onto the dancefloor. The music changed as if on cue to a slow song.

A light hand went to her back, pulling her close. Bonnie put her arms around his neck and tried to avoid his eye, but that seemed to be impossible. Everywhere she looked Kol caught her eye, he flashed a teasing smile. It was probably meant to be disarming, but it did nothing to hide the heat in his eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Bonnie mumbled keeping her gaze on everything except Kol.

"Because you're beautiful."

"Well knock it off before someone wonders what we're doing."

Kol laughed. He leaned closer and she felt his cheek press against her own as he whispered in her ear. "Oh, they believe we're sleeping together so I doubt it's much of a mystery to anyone why we're dancing so close."

First then did Bonnie realize how close she had allowed him. Her chest was against his and just as when she had slept in his arms, she could feel his every muscle.

"I kind of noticed," Bonnie sighed. "Do you really want to advertise your alliance with a Nightwalker to Klaus?"

It was an excuse. A small hope that she would be able to put some distance between her and Kol. No such luck.

"He won't suspect my agreement with Marcel. He'll assume I am doing what I do best, devoting my attention to a pretty girl with a sharp tongue."

Bonnie jerked back and glared at him. "I won't be another one of your conquests."

"I had noticed you are far more difficult than most however, there is no harm in trying."

Her eyes narrowed, but she refrained from commenting. After all, she was supposed to be getting close to Kol. A little bit of disinterest was good, but only up to a certain point.

"There could be if you push too hard."

Kol chuckled clearly unbothered by her threat. He held her a little closer, but his grip remained light as if he wanted her to know she could escape at any moment. In a strange way, she appreciated that. Still, she was aware she shouldn't allow herself to be taken in by Kol. At least no more than necessary to get the job done.

The song changed and Bonnie ceased to exist in that moment. Instead, she flashed back to the last night her dad had been alive.

"_I'm going to bed, dad," Bonnie said from the doorway to the living room. She didn't know his friends, but she knew they had just started at his construction company. Rudy had invited them over to get to know them better. It was what he always did with new hires. "Good night."_

"_Good night, sweetheart. I'll see you in the morning," Rudy said with a warm smile over his shoulder. _

_Bonnie padded back upstairs to go to bed. Blissfully unaware that the four strangers in her home had stared at her bare legs and her ass on her way out. _

_How much later it was when she woke up, she couldn't have said. Only that there was a hand over her mouth._

"What's wrong?" Kol inclined his head to catch her eye.

"Nothing."

"You look as if you went to a dark place, beautiful."

"My thoughts are none of your business. We aren't friends and we aren't sleeping together even if the whole school thinks we are."

Kol flashed a smile. "Fascinating, I think I rather fancy you, little witch."

Bonnie looked away. She did her best to put on an indifferent front, but she couldn't stop the thoughts that were haunting her. The memories of the past that had led to her presence here. The very same ones that may make her guilty of Kol's death. Assuming he didn't survive and kill them all in retaliation.

_It was hours later and Bonnie was drugged, groggy and lying on the floor. Her pajamas were in tatters around her. Her whole body ached. In spite of whatever drug, they had given her she could feel the cigarette burns and knife cuts all over her. There was a horrible ache between her legs, it felt as if someone had ripped her to shreds. _

_In a way they had. Her father's coworkers had taken turns raping her in front of him. All three of them. _

_Nick. _

_Bruce. _

_Jerry. _

_Such ordinary names that belonged to such ordinary men. Who would have thought they would have such violent beasts hidden inside of them? _

_Rudy was tied up in the corner. He was watching her with wide eyes. His eyes were red around the edges from the crying and his screams were muffled by the gag. _

_Jerry was passed out next to her. Nick was drinking the last of the beer and Bruce was eyeing her as if he was thinking about what he could do next. _

_What more could they do?_

_Just as soon as Bonnie thought it, she realized how wrong she had been. There was one last thing – one last horrible crime they could commit. They had already shattered any naïve fantasies she may have harbored that the world was a fair place or that she was safe. But they had yet to take away the last person on earth, who loved her. _

"_You know we're gonna have to kill him," Nick drawled. _

_Nick threw the beer bottle against the wall. It shattered like so much glass. _

"_Yeah, no going into work after this," Bruce laughed. _

_He approached Rudy. It all happened so slowly and yet so fast. One slash of his knife and Rudy's throat was slit. Her father collapsed in a pool of his own blood. His last scream still on his lips. The life drained from his eyes. _

_Bonnie saw all of it. Rage simmered up inside of her. It was like she was a pot that had been waiting to boil over night and now it happened. _

_All of the sudden her mind was clear. The rage had burned away the fear, the pain and even the drowsiness of the drugs. As Nick started to look for more booze, she grabbed the knife that was carelessly tucked into Jerry's belt. _

_She killed him first. One slash of her knife just as Bruce had done and his blood flowed freely. In the next instant, she had launched herself at Bruce. This was messier, more brutal. He'd had time to prepare for her attack, but she got him in the thigh. Then it was just blind hacking until he stopped moving. _

_When she rose to her feet, Nick was slowly backing away. She grinned a feral smile. Enjoying his fear. Reveling in being a monster soaked in blood. _

_Good, it was time they feared _her.

"Bonnie?"

She glanced up, blinking. For a moment she was confused and finally, she saw Kol.

"Yes?"

"Where do you keep disappearing too?"

Bonnie shook her head. She couldn't explain. She took a step back, moving out of his embrace. Suddenly the feel of his arms around her felt like a cage and Kol's cologne was traded for the smell of alcohol, sweat and cigarettes.

Kol looked as if he was about to seconds away from demanding an answer. She could tell by the darkness in his eyes and the hardness of his jaw. In a way it was understandable, they were dancing and she was miles away. It was strange behavior given that something whatever the hell it was, was happening between them. But maybe, just maybe it wasn't as strange as how he had disappeared for days. Two nights of sleeping next to each other, one of which she had been wrapped tightly in his embrace then nothing.

Luckily she was spared having to choose between running, fighting or worst of all explaining anything. Most of, which Kol must have pieced together by now. If he had even half a brain someone as dark as him should easily be able to work out what had happened to her. In spite of what everyone seemed to think, Bonnie knew it wasn't a mystery. Someone had hurt her in the worst ways imaginable. Her scars alone were a dead giveaway.

The interruption had come in the form of Stefan dragging April to the center of the room. One glance and she saw one of the Mystic Falls kids – she thought his name was Tyler had cut the music. To look at Stefan, she would have thought he had an important announcement. But one glance at April was enough to dispel the notion.

Tears streaked down April's face and she was dressed in a rat costume. Stefan gripped her tightly by the upper arm. Her expression was twisted into a grimace and Bonnie knew he was hurting her.

"This rat dared show up at our dance," Stefan said with a painfully neutral expression as if he wasn't a monster. "She thought could come here because I invited her. She was arrogant enough to believe I would want a piece of trash like her."

"Once a rat always a rat," Hayley snarled.

Bonnie turned to her and promised silently, Hayley's death would not be swift.

"Exactly," Stefan smirked. He threw April to the ground. "Run along."

Some of Hayley's girls flanked Stefan and Bonnie knew they were responsible for April's makeover. They had even glued fake whiskers to the poor girl's face.

Without thinking, Bonnie rushed to her side. She helped her out and led her to the roof. The one safe spot in the entire school for the rats. It was the closest thing they had to territory.

Bonnie helped April sit down. Then she sunk down next to her. April wrapped her arms tightly around herself and sobbed loudly. Bonnie didn't touch her or speak until her sobs eventually calmed.

"I'd ask if you're alright, but we both know that's a stupid question."

April nodded.

"Want to get even?"

"How? You heard them, I'm a rat."

"Exactly, they will never see it coming and what are they going to do to you that they're not already?"

The part of Bonnie's brain that was still functioning rationally knew this was a bad idea. But the part of her that was running on pure rage couldn't shake the idea. The world was unfair and April had come to King's like her to make the world more fair. Yet their classmates were determined to stop them. Well Bonnie would see to it they got their come-uppance.

"What do you suggest?"

"Come with me."

XXX

Kol wanted to go after Bonnie however, that was not an option. She had demonstrated loyalty to a rat tonight. He couldn't risk making himself appear weak by doing the same. If he did, Nik might seize his chance to kill Kol before he could enact his own plans.

Yet a moment later, he found himself wanting to kill Katherine. Ordinarily, he liked the girl. He even liked that she was ballsy enough to defect from her hometown gang. However, right this moment he could not recall why.

"This is a dreadful idea," Kol said shooting her a furious look.

Elijah glanced at him and there was a warning in it. One Kol did not care to heed.

Katherine sniffed and tossed her curls over her shoulder. "She's my twin. I have to do something before Damon kills her."

"Why?" Kol asked.

Rebekah elbowed him. That was a sign he needed to stop talking before Elijah caught on, they were planning to murder a sibling of their own.

"Enough," Elijah said. "We will do this."

"Where is Nik?" Kol asked with an air of feigned innocence. One that did not fool Elijah judging by the murderous expression that crossed his face.

"He does not wish to aid, Katerina."

"Sounds as if he is out of line," Rebekah suggested slyly.

Kol grinned. Elijah closed and opened his fists several times.

"Never mind that. Let's go."

They rounded the corner where Damon and Elena were last seen. Kol cursed under his breath. Mostly because Katherine was right. If they didn't do something to help Elena the girl would be dead sooner rather than later.

Damon stood over her. Elena's lip was cut and her eye was swollen. He had her face in his hand and he was gripping her tightly as he shoved her against the wall.

"You think you can just ignore me like that? Do you remember, who I am?" Damon snarled.

All this because the girl had ignored him for a moment? Kol thought to himself. After all, whenever he had seen Elena she was fawning over Damon. Hanging onto his every word and hanging on to him. It had also not escaped Kol's notice how she waited on Damon, seeing to his every need. One time he had come by Damon's dorm looking for Kai only to find Elena cleaning the room as Damon sipped bourbon and barked at her to go faster.

"Sounds to me as if you're a man with a fragile ego," Kol said stepping forward. "What's the trouble Damon? Small dick or just can't get it up?"

Damon turned around and his expression was both furious and insane. Kol supposed this plan wasn't all bad if it meant he got to beat Damon up. Seeing his swollen nose, Kol realized Elena may simply have been a convenient target for Damon's rage.

"What do you want?"

"Oh, I get it now," Kol smirked. "I smashed your face in and you're too much of a coward to come for me so you take it out on your girl."

"Dick move."

Kol twirled his baseball bat and grinned wickedly. "Oh, darling you haven't seen anything yet."

He aimed for Damon's ribs and smirked at the pained cry that passed Damon's lips.

"Elena come here," Katherine was saying.

"We'll protect you," Elijah agreed and looked at her seriously. "You have my word."

"No," Elena said in a shaky glance and shot Damon a nervous look.

"You stay away from her. She's my slut," Damon spat.

Kol knew it was false talk. Damon could barely stand let alone put up a fight. He'd be lucky if he could even walk in the morning when they were through with him.

"Don't tell me you like being his bitch?" Rebekah asked. "And his dick I mean can you say micro penis?"

Rebekah sat down, crossed her legs and lit a cigarette. She had never been much for torture, but she liked to watch Kol work. Especially when he worked over someone she hated with a bat.

"You know," Kol said tapping his bat against the palm of his hand. "I miss wood bats," he swung it experimentally. "Oh well at least this one won't break."

He hit the bat over Damon's back.

"Elena get Stefan you useless cunt," Damon growled.

Elena tried to make a run for it, but Elijah caught her by the arm. He threw on the floor.

"Your sister is trying to help you. Do you wish to reject my generous offer? Think long and hard before you answer."

"'Lijah, please," Katherine said quietly.

"Silence," Elijah said to her and turned back to Katherine. "Well what will it be?"

"I'm not a traitor," Elena said quaking.

Kol shook his head. This girl had begged Bonnie for her help and now she wouldn't take it. Damon had fucked her up good. There was no saving her.

"You're defying me?" Elijah questioned.

Elena looked away, she remained silent it was smart.

"Don't be a fool," Katherine said. "No one defies Elijah. No one."

"Thank you, sweetheart," Elijah said. "And she is right. It would seem we must teach you a lesson."

"I've an idea," Kol smirked. His blood was rushing hot. He loved the thrill of torture and psychological pain well there was simply no match for it. "Elena darling, come take the bat and beat your lover for me."

Elena shook her head. She looked violently ill.

"Come now, don't you want to return the favor? Looks as if he's given you a bruise or two."

"I walked into a locker."

Kol looked at Damon in disgust. It was just as he had thought. Damon had blamed Elena for Kol's actions. What a lowlife.

"Bring her here."

Kol didn't look to know Katherine and Rebekah did as he asked. They grabbed Elena by the arms and hauled her to her feet. They didn't stop until she was right in front of Kol.

"Now what?" Katherine drawled. She did her best to put on a bored front, but Kol saw through it. She was scared for her sister.

Kol emphasized he really did however, Katherine had made her choice six months ago. She had chosen the Originals over everything else in the world. Tonight, she would have the chance to prove her loyalty was where it should be.

"Get on with it, Kol," Rebekah said and her eyes were alight with malice.

Kol was tempted to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. It was always a mess, but he knew he couldn't. Just as he couldn't tell her to go to bed, they would handle this. Besides, why should he cheat his baby sister of this spectacle? She loved what they were as much as he did.

"You take the bat, Elena," Kol said conversationally. "Or I give it to Katherine and turn her loose on you."

Kol shot a look at Katherine. She had paled, but she nodded. This was what Elijah wanted and Kol was going to prove that he deserved to fill his role, not Nik.

Katherine was being punished as much now as her sister. She had brought this to Elijah wept and pleaded with him to save her sister's life only to have Elena reject their offer. It wouldn't do. Elena's rejection had made the Originals appear weak and Elijah would never allow that. Now Katherine must pay the price along with Elena to ensure their reputation did not take a hit tonight.

"Take the bat, Elena. Imagine what I will do to you if you don't. I have a lot of rage and a lot of it is aimed at you as much as Damon."

Kol wondered how true that was. With Katherine it could be difficult to tell the truth from the lie. And he didn't know enough about her relationship with Damon to say with any certainty what had happened.

"No."

"Take it before I hurt you like he made you hurt me," Katherine snarled.

Kol held the bat out to them, handle first.

"Which one of you will step up to the plate, ladies? So to speak naturally."

One glance at Elijah and he saw the approval in his eyes. Just like that Kol was back in the running for succession.

With trembling hands, Elena took the bat. She raised it over her shoulder and swung. It connected with his knee and he screamed.

"Don't you fucking dare -"

Damon's threat was cut short because Elena hit him over the shoulders this time. There was a satisfying crack that told Kol she had broken something.

Tears streamed down her face and she pleaded with him silently to end this. Kol stared back at her, his eyes dark and unforgiving. He knew the effect of that look. It made grown men afraid let alone a beaten, abused teen like Elena.

"I'm sorry -"

Damon twisted around. The bat hit the cement floor. Kol hadn't thought Damon was in any shape to move that fast, which was his reaction time was off when Damon darted to his feet and ran away.

Kol growled. He snatched the bat and set off after him. He heard footsteps as his family followed him.

XXX

Bonnie's plan was suicidal and even she knew it. All the same, she was not willing to back down even if it meant losing her spot at King's or worse.

Bonnie didn't think, she ran straight into the dance and blew a dart laced with yellow fever at Hayley. She hit the ground and Bonnie grinned.

Bonnie turned the bat over in the palm of her hand. This particular idea was courtesy of Kol, but she had to admit he was on to something. April slid a skateboard her way and Bonnie jumped on, she sped through the room knocking over anyone, who got in her way. Except for the Nightwalkers.

Celestia saw her, flashed a wicked smile before whispering something to Marcel. Marcel didn't look pleased, but whatever Celestia said must have calmed him because he winked at her. Bonnie had the sneaky suspicion that Celestia was telling him this was exactly the kind of behavior that would get Kol's attention. And she probably wasn't wrong.

April whipped past her on a skateboard of her own. She knocked Stefan over. Bonnie threw a careless glance over her shoulder and saw the scene had turned to chaos. Kol, Katherine and Elijah as well as Rebekah had chased Damon into the room. He was bleeding from a headwound and clutching his side. Yet they were still pursuing him.

Kol dragged the bloody bat behind him.

Bonnie took out one of the Dixie Mob members that tried to stop her. One swing of the bat and she was down for the count. Bonnie skated toward April, but her eyes were fixed on Kol. Mostly because of the way he watched her. His dark eyes were amused and his lips twitched upward as if he was trying to keep from smiling. He nodded appraisingly at her bat before continuing his search for Damon.

It was hard not to hand it to him. He had recovered from the shock of the relative chaos taking place here faster than anyone else in his crew.

Bonnie glared at Stefan. She slammed her baseball bat down on his knee.

"Maybe we should pin a rat tail on him?" Bonnie suggested casually.

April laughed. "I don't know. I was thinking disembowelment. We're studying it in ancient combat and I'm itching to try it out."

Black hooded figures joined the party.

"Whatever you do it's going to be fast," Bonnie said getting ready to make a run for it.

April blew the dirt square in his forehead. "Look at that. Bull's eye."

Bonnie had all of a second to enjoy the karma of Stefan getting hit in the forehead by the very same dart technique he'd used to approach April. But that was all. Before she knew it, a monk had her in an unbreakable grip. She screamed as he pinned her arms to her back in a painful grip.

Pearl strode into the room. She surveyed the chaos and the injured students with a cold look. One that turned as chilly as the arctic when she turned her gaze to the offenders.

"I spend hours as does my staff trying to teach you all about the value of stealth yet it seems to fall on deaf ears. Weekend detention all of you for the cardinal sin of getting caught. As for those of you were already to spend this weekend in detention thanks to the previous incident, it would seem you are now spending two weekends in detention. Consider yourselves lucky."

**Thank you so much to everyone, who has read this fic! I hope you like the latest installment. I apologize for going MIA the last few weeks, but I have a term paper due and between it and my job, there was just no time left for fanfic. But I am back and updating Power later today. I hope everyone is safe and healthy! **

**\- Izzy**

**Guest: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I'm thrilled to hear you liked it. Yes, Kol totally chucked that idea away, which he might end up regretting.**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

Katherine watched as Elijah paced his length of the dorm. He had a roommate technically. However, unbeknownst to Pearl, Elijah frequently threw him out. The poor rat had spent many nights sleeping in the supply closet and it appeared tonight would be no exception. Katherine only wished it was because they were about to have sex all night long. But she knew tonight she would be lucky to still be Elijah's girlfriend come morning.

She sat quietly in his desk chair waiting for him to speak. There was none of her usual flirtation or mocking in her posture or face. That was a dangerous way to be when Elijah was in a temper. It was such a rare occurrence she had forgotten how truly frightening he could be. He did not explode the way Klaus did or play games like Kol. Instead, it was a cold fury. One that often left her frozen out of his life for days.

Oh, she was still in his life, but stuck on the outside.

Running with the Originals was a better move than running with the Mystic Falls crew, but there were times Katherine realized Elijah was as much a monster as everyone else at King's. He loved her, deeply and madly, but he would never put anyone or anything above his family and their syndicate.

Finally, Elijah turned to look at her.

"You told me Elena wanted our help."

"I thought she did," Katherine whispered lowering her gaze.

"She did not and if we had not contained the situations rumor would already be spreading around King's of our weakness. Imagine an offer of membership rejected by a lowly Petrova. What would be the ramifications of that, Katerina?"

Katherine knew he wanted a specific answer just as she knew the wrong one would put her in an even more precarious position than she was already in. If Elijah broke up with her, he would not allow her to live. And she couldn't return to Damon and Stefan, she would sooner die. She would be all alone unless Kai was serious about offering her a spot among the Coven. But she doubted he would take her. Not if the Originals had a hit out on her.

"It would reach outside ears and weaken your family."

"Why is that unacceptable?"

"Because the syndicate comes first."

"Good girl," Elijah said and the corners of his lips twitched. "Do you know what my father would do to you for bringing us bad information?"

"It was Bonnie -"

"I don't care about Bonnie!" Elijah thundered and she flinched. "It is your job to bring me credible information, Katerina. Yours alone. That means you do your due diligence ensure it is reliable. You are not to act on your emotions."

Unless I am in bed with you, Katherine thought and it had a surprising amount of venom to it. Sometimes, she wondered how much she loved Elijah and how much of it was simply survival.

"I'm sorry."

"Now answer my question."

"I don't know what Mikael would do."

"He would take your tongue. That's what he did to the last informant, who was duped."

Katherine wrapped her arms protectively around herself. "And are you going to make an example of me?"

"No, fortunately I have been able to keep this incident quiet therefore your punishment will be a private matter."

"Your salary for recruitment and information for the next two months is cancelled."

That actually wasn't a big deal to Katherine. She came from a crime syndicate and had plenty of money of her own, which Elijah would know.

"I understand."

"As for you if I didn't love you, I might be inclined to turn you over one my family's brothels."

Katherine shuddered. And they said Kol was the family psycho. She'd never heard of him turning girls over to pimps. Elijah made a show of nobility, but Katherine knew it was a façade. Underneath it he was a cold, ruthless businessman. It was what had drawn her to him in the first place.

Already Katherine was thinking of ways to lessen Elijah's anger. The thought of simply skipping out on the Originals crossed her mind, but she had invested too much in this crew to cut her losses and run now. Besides, she did love Elijah. If another member of his crew had brought him bad information, they would need a body cast. Klaus had spent three months in the infirmary last year for making an alliance with the Coven without Elijah's consent.

Deciding her best bet was to drive him wild, Katherine wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. Elijah kissed her back briefly for a moment then he touched his forehead to hers. His fingers caressed her cheek.

"You know I love you, don't you, Katerina?"

Katherine nodded and pressed herself closer. She pouted.

"I'm sorry, my love. I may have overreacted."

Katherine may have been attracted to his cold businessman exterior at first, but it was the gentleness he treated her with that had made her love him. Knowing he was still capable of it even with his graduation so close made her realize she did genuinely love him. What she didn't love was the world they lived in. It destroyed them all and ruined everything good.

"I love you too," Katherine breathed. She nipped at his earlobe.

Elijah chuckled. "I apologize. I've been under a lot of stress however, I shouldn't take it out on you."

"No, you shouldn't. I'm always on your side, Elijah. Always."

"I know," he murmured. His lips sought hers in a brief kiss. "How are things between you and Niklaus?"  
"The same. He thinks I'm a spy and he would like to see my head parted from the rest of my body."

"I'll talk to him."

It was what Elijah always said. He genuinely believed he could control Klaus, but Katherine knew the truth.

No one could.

XXX

Katherine lay awake long after Elijah had fallen asleep. He snored and she brushed his hair away from his forehead.

Sure, he wasn't perfect, but he was hers.

In a place like King's you needed just one other person to care whether you lived or died to be alright. And Katherine had that.

The thoughts of what Damon used to do her chilled her to the bone and she pressed closer into Elijah's warmth. Even Elijah's presence was not enough to protect her from the memories.

Even back then she had preferred Stefan. He was a better lay and he didn't get much pleasure out of beating up girls. But Damon was the heir apparent, which meant he got whatever he wanted. Katherine felt reasonably confident she could have torn Damon to shreds and done her nails at the same time. However, since her parents worked for the Salvatores her hands had been tied. Just as Elena's were now.

But Katherine had been unable to bear the weight of it and found a way to escape their clutches. Her parents had been forced to disown her as a result. Still, it was worth it. She would have paid any price to live free of Damon.

Damon had used both her and Elena as he pleased. He called them his little girlfriends and Katherine still wanted to retch at the memory. But they weren't girlfriends more like slaves. He used to hit them when they didn't do what he wanted. Elena was his favorite, she was softer, more pliable and less likely to talk back.

"Katerina?" Elijah mumbled and woke up. "Why aren't you asleep? Is it because of what I did earlier? I'm sorry, my love."

"No," Katherine nuzzled his jaw. "Just seeing Elena and Damon like that – it brought back memories."

"Did he hurt you?"

Katherine shook her head.

"Don't lie to me. Whatever happened you can tell me."

"He -" Katherine's voice shook. She'd never shared this story with anyone before, but maybe it was time. "He did horrible things, things that still haunt me. I don't want to talk about it."

"My darling, I'll kill him for it. Would you like that?"

Katherine nodded. "Yes, I'd like that very much."

"Perhaps you would even like to be the one to do the honors?"

"I'd like that even more," she purred and pressed a kiss to his jaw. "When I didn't do what he wanted or when he was drunk sometimes, he would force Elena to hurt me for him."

"I know ways to make his death last for days, weeks even."

Warmth pooled between her legs.

"You're turning me on."

"Am I?" Elijah teased. "You know I would do anything for you. And I will never allow him to hurt you again."

That was all Katherine needed to hear.

XXX

Bonnie waited until King's was silent. Once she was sure the coast was clear she climbed out the window. Rebekah was asleep and either didn't wake up or didn't care that Bonnie was sneaking out.

It was a stupid risk to take when she already had two weekend's worth of detention ahead of her, but she was crawling out of her skin. There had been a lot of injustice tonight and Bonnie honestly couldn't decide, who was the worst of all the bullies in this school.

She sat down on the ledge in the smoking spot she had stolen from Kol. She lit a cigarette, inhaled and closed her eyes. For the first time that whole night she felt relaxed and fell back against the wall.

"I must say this is a lovely surprise," Kol said.

Bonnie opened her eyes just in time to see him sit down next to her.

"Couldn't sleep?"

"No."

"Did you know Elena chose to stay with Damon when we gave her the choice tonight?"

"Stupid bitch," Bonnie muttered.

"That I understand," Kol said slowly. "Makes sense when you have watched the two of them for as long as I have."

"What are you some kind of peeping Tom?"

"Careful. People, who talk to me that way don't live long lives."

"Whatever," Bonnie murmured and closed her eyes.

"Damon and I have been in the same class for years now. I saw how he changed when the Petrova twins joined us at King's," Kol said by way of explanation. "Elena's bonded to him. Likely she will stay with him until he kills her unless she one day snaps and ends him. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out."

"Sounds like you have it all figured out to me."

"No," Kol turned to study her. His gaze was curious as if she was a puzzle, he couldn't make heads or tails of. "Why did you get involved? Your first day here you nearly slit Marcel's throat in cold blood yet you protect others such as April. Even Elena and correct me if I am wrong however, I was under the impression the two of you never exchanged as much as two words."

"I don't know what to tell you. Guess I'm enigma."

"An enigma, who killed three man at the age of fourteen. Yet you protect strangers when you would kill your own father."

"I didn't kill him. I told you that!"  
Kol smirked. "Now that makes more sense. Two men your father works with attack you and they kill your father when he tries to escape or maybe they just weren't planning on letting either of you live.

"Two? I killed three men."

"What did you do with the third man's body?"

"I didn't do anything to it," Bonnie said confused. "He was bleeding out when I ran away."

"The cops only found -" Kol stared at her with wide eyes. "Two bodies. You left someone alive that night."

"Then where are they?" Bonnie whispered. "No one ever came forward."

"Why would they? You took the heat. The police never believed you about the attack. If they remained missing or presumed dead, they get off scot free."

"Oh my God," Bonnie breathed. "I - I think –I carved up Nick's face. If he is alive -"

"He will look for you if the authorities do not bring justice upon you," Kol said finishing her thought. "I suppose it's a good thing you're at King's. You should stay on campus or at least not leave alone."

"Do you really think he will be back?"

"Hard to say. It depends on what sort of sicko this Nick bloke is," Kol's eyes roamed lower to study the scars on her arms before finally landing on the white cigarette burn between her thighs. In a light movement, his fingertips brushed along it. They were gone before his touch even fully registered. "However, I should think any man, who could do that will be back."

"Should I warn Pearl?"

Kol shook his head. "She will only draw unnecessary attention to you. She won't mean to however, overprotective never did anyone any favors here. If I were you, I would talk the Nightwalkers about drawing him out. Perhaps consult our professor of psychopathy."

"Oh, right," Bonnie said, latching on to a more normal conversation. At least what passed for it at King's. "I have my first lesson with him tomorrow. Have I missed much?"

"Not really. That particular class usually starts mid-semester and runs for a shorter period. At least it did when I was a freshman. Could have changed."

"Guess I'll find out," Bonnie said and lapsed into silence until that grew too pressing. "Why do you even give a shit whether I live or die? I have seen firsthand how easily you kill."

Kol shrugged. "Been asking myself that same question a lot since I met you."

"Really?"

Bonnie stumped out her cigarette.

"Really," he nodded and flashed a rueful smile. "Just something about you I guess."

"Weird. Not sure why I even hang around you either. I mean -"

"I know what you mean," Kol interrupted easily. "Suppose there is something about me you find non-threatening. I should be insulted however, I find in your case I don't mind."

"If it helps, I still consider you a bad boy," Bonnie said with a teasing smile that was completely unlike her.

It was hard for her to believe, but she was actually flirting. Leaning in closer to a boy and looking at him in a way she had never thought she would look at another boy. She had believed she was damaged beyond all repair. Maybe she was. Maybe it was just because he was as fucked up as she was that she could feel any of this for him.

But it's only a part of the undercover role. I have to get close to him, she told herself. It worked for the most part.

At least until Kol leaned in closer as well. His fingers ghosted along the scars on her arm. Her eyes fluttered closed and she focused on continuing to breathe. It was hard to think straight, he was touching the physical reminder of the worst night of her life. The physical reminder of the hell she had been through. But he wasn't repulsed or turned on by the scars the way some freaks might have been. It was as if he was trying to erase the pain of them.

"Do they hurt?"

"No," she breathed. "At least not anymore."

His fingers traced patterns along the scars. Gently so gently she couldn't be sure his lips met hers. His lips were scorching and the fire spread to her. Her breath caught in her throat and she gasped. She pulled away and turned her head to the side.

"Don't worry, little witch. I've plenty of time to chase you around yet."

Bonnie opened and closed her mouth several times to reply, but no sound came out. Not that it mattered by the time she found her voice Kol had disappeared.

"I'm in so much trouble," she murmured more to herself than anyone else.

XXX

Bonnie sat down at the back of her class of human psychopathy. Mostly because Kol's words about their teacher made her uneasy about him. The air before the lecture started was different in this class as well. There was less chatter and showing off. None of the other students were swaggering around, trying to intimidate the others with their posturing. People still talked, but it was in hushed voices. There was a sort of feeling about the room. To Bonnie it was similar to the feeling she got in churches.

Reverence.

Rebekah sat down in the seat next to her. She tossed her head and her feathered bangs remained in place. It was infuriating yet worthy of admiration how Rebekah unfailingly managed to look like she walked off the runway.

"You know my brother loved this class," Rebekah drawled.

To Bonnie it sounded as if she was talking to no one in particular, but she looked straight at Bonnie. Rebekah arched an eyebrow as if expecting an answer.

"Really?" Bonnie said although she wasn't surprised.

"Yes, really," Rebekah said with a false smile. "He didn't tell you?"

Bonnie shook her head.

"And here I thought it was such a budding romance," Rebekah leaned in to purr in Bonnie's ear. "Or perhaps the two of you don't talk much?"

Bonnie jerked away as if she had burned herself.

Fortunately, Rebekah's attention was distracted. Their teacher was escorted in by two monks. What immediately struck Bonnie was how restrained he was. He was in a wheelchair with locks on his arms, legs and even a leash. One of the monks held it in a tether.

The second thing was that the man was obviously still dressed as a greaser decades after the trend died. Coincidentally with the amount of grease that was in his hair, it also looked like it hadn't been washed in decades.

"Good afternoon class. I am Enzo. Now some of you may know me from my earlier works. Anyone care to take a stab at it? Pun intended of course," he glanced in Bonnie's direction and smiled.

Bonnie shook her head. Whoever this guy was, she had no idea. The one thing she knew was that Damon kept looking at him with an awe she hadn't thought him capable of. That caught her attention, Damon was in the same year as Kol, he shouldn't be in this class. Bonnie had a few AP classes, which meant she attended with the older students. But to be in a class with juniors? It implied he had failed this class or been held back. Maybe Kol had more reason to look down on Damon than he let on.

Jo's hand shot in the air after a moment of contemplation.

"I know, sir."

"Sir," Enzo scoffed. "I am Enzo. Tell me what you think I did."

"You hunted other serial killers. You killed about hundred men here in the US alone. Took the police, FBI and Interpole nearly three decades to track you down," Jo said. "Globally, you are estimated to have killed roughly 243 active serial killers. Which ironically means you are considered the world's most prolific serial killer."

A hush fell over the room at Jo's clinical explanation of Enzo's crime. It was chilling to think he was a serial killer, who's preferred prey were others like him. Even her imagination wasn't good enough to think what he had done to accomplish this goal.

"Very good," he nodded. "Naturally, I would expect the daughter of Father Joshua to be up to date with other monsters. As you are aware your father was an entirely different kind of creature than myself, but an interesting one nonetheless. We will come back to him later in the course. Today however, I am going to give you a keen insight into the human mind. Specifically, the minds of killers by first giving you some insights into yourself," he wheeled over to Jo and sized her up. "Tell me, Josette. What do you hate the most in this world?"

"I don't see how that is an insight into my mind -" Jo stammered.

"It will become clear in a moment. Answer the question. What. Do. _You. _Hate. The. Most?"

"My brother."

"Fuck you too, sissy," Kai snarled.

No one paid him any attention.

"Interesting," Enzo's smirk broadened. "He was the sole survivor of your father's massacre along with you, correct?"

"Correct."

"You should love him. Yet you hate him because he killed your family. You blame him because there is no one else left to blame. I can easily imagine your preferred victims are men in powerful positions."

Jo nodded.

"A boring victimology, but I digress. Next," he snapped at Kai.

"My father."

"Cliché," Enzo moved on to Damon. "And you?"

"Katherine Pierce."

Enzo laughed. "A woman of course. Yet another trite cliché."

Bonnie found herself disliking Enzo more and more for each student he questioned. He kept going and stopped at Rebekah's desk.

"What do you hate most?"

"Betrayers."

"Mildly more interesting than watching paint dry, but not by much," Enzo finally appeared in front of Bonnie. "What do you hate most?" he looked directly at Celestia.

Dick, Bonnie thought and she would have loved nothing more than to put him in his place.

Celestia didn't flinch or hesitate. "Capitalism."

"Hard to argue," Enzo said making a face like this was the first reasonable thing he had heard all day. "What about you? You came to King's with a reputation. You must be filled with hatred, but what do you hate above all else?"

"Bullies," Bonnie said. "Small, insignificant bullies, who hurt others to feel powerful. They are so insecure in themselves they can only feel like real men when they are inflicting pain upon helpless victims. Bullies like you."

Enzo smiled and it was evil. He leaned in close and his face contorted in rage. With a growl he tried to reach Bonnie. Before she could blink, one of the monks had slammed his cane down on Enzo's hand. It made a resounding crack. Enzo howled in pain, but withdrew.

"I think that will suffice for class participation. Now to delve into the criminal mind it is necessary to know there are many different kinds of creatures out there."

XXX

Bonnie was just leaving class when two of the monks appeared seemingly out of nowhere. She hated how they did that. Crept around and appeared out of thin air. Usually at the worst times. Now was no exception as she was on her way to study with Celestia. They had a big test in poisons on Monday.

The monks grabbed either of her arms and dragged her along. Bonnie struggled and cursed. But they were stronger than her and had years more experience fighting than she did. They gripped her as if she weighed nothing and like her struggles were nothing.

"What hell? Where are you taking me?"

The monks remained silent. They dragged her toward the library and dumped her inside. She cursed and sputtered as she ran at the doors. But the large wooden doors slammed shut before she reached them.

"Have a seat, Bonnie," Pearl's voice cut in to her shouting. It was icy cold.

Bonnie whirled around only to see Pearl at the front of the room. Scattered around at various desks in between shelves were several students. Kol, Katherine, Kai, Damon and Elena to name a few. Rebekah was harder to spot, but Bonnie eventually found her on top of a bookshelf, her legs stretched out as if she was taking a nap.

Not a single Nightwalker in the whole room.

Of course, Kai was alone without the coven either, but he was a psycho. One that wasn't involved in what had happened at the dance. Bonnie was and she liked to think Kol would have her back, but at King's nothing was certain.

"What's going on?" Bonnie asked looking to Pearl.

"Detention," Pearl replied in clipped tones. "Now have a seat."

Bonnie sat down in the vacant chair at the front. She tensed up realizing there were several students behind her. She would have preferred to have them in her line of sight.

"How long are we locked up for this time?" Kai asked in a bored voice.

"Until Sunday evening," Pearl replied. "That box there contains your food and liquid for the weekend. Try to stay out of trouble while you are here as you have already committed the cardinal sin of being caught, I should think that will suffice for one week."

Pearl strode away and the doors opened for her. Bonnie had no illusions of following her getting out of there. The second Pearl was over the threshold the monks slammed the doors shut. There was a loud click as the lock was turned.

Katherine sighed and lay down on her back on the table. Bonnie sat down on her desk so she could better track the movements of her fellow students. She blushed when she realized Kol was sitting at the desk next to hers.

"This is going to be a long weekend," Kol said to no one in particular.

Kai began to balance on the hind legs of his chair. He glanced toward Elena and Damon.

"What are you two lovebirds in for?" Kai said. His expression was mischievous and Bonnie knew he was about to stir up trouble. "Last I checked it wasn't illegal to be the victims of assault."

Damon shot Kai a disgusted look.

"Pearl reprimanded us for fighting on school grounds," Elena replied in a whisper.

Bonnie glanced at Elena. She was blue and green. Some of the bruises were turning purple and yellow, but overall, the girl looked like a walking bruise. Whatever the Originals had done to protect her, she had born the brunt of it. For a second, Bonnie experienced a twinge of regret. Next time she would stay out of it.

"Hey with you me and Kitty-Kat locked up together it's just like old times, right Katerina?" Damon said fixing Katherine with an intense yet obsessed look.

Katherine tossed her curls and studied her nails. "Please, we both know I could tear you to shreds and do my nails at the same time, Damon."

Kol chuckled. "Keep to your side of the library, darling. Otherwise, I will take this golden opportunity to off you."

Damon's expression soured. "Care to put your money where your mouth is?"

"Don't need to. I've already proven myself. You on the other hand are found lacking," Kol said calmly.

Bonnie inched further back and barely dared breathe. They were confined here, she didn't want to get drawn into this.

"Careful, Mikaelson. I don't see your bat and we all know you're not half as tough without it."

"Suppose not. Yet it still makes me twice as tough as you."

Damon's jaw twitched and Bonnie braced herself. The tension in the room was palpable and she knew any second a fight could break out.

Damon sized up Kol for what felt like an eternity before finally scoffing.

"You're not worth it."

Kol rolled his eyes and lay down on his back. He whistled and generally appeared unbothered by the entire situation. The Originals must not have considered Damon much a threat because Rebekah was still lounging on top of a book case.

"I'm bored," Rebekah sulked. "Does anyone have any booze?"

"Do you think the monks don't check us first?" Kai demanded.

Bonnie felt naked without the switchblade the monks had confiscated. It was the only weapon she carried most days because it was all she needed. But without it she was left painfully aware of her 5,2 height and slight build. She was by far the smallest person in the room.

Then her eyes landed on Kol. He was dozing off peacefully and she felt a strange sense of reassurance. Surely a boy, who had tried to kiss her just last night wouldn't let anyone hurt her. That was a relief not only because he was the largest of the boys present, but because most of the people in the room belonged to his crew.

"Why isn't that Nazi bitch locked in here with us?" Katherine sulked. "Hardly seems fair as she started the argument."

"Because Kol beat the ever-living shit out of her," Kai said. "No doubt Pearl and the monks consider her a blameless victim, which is ironic given what she is."

"So why is Damon and his trash here?" Rebekah drawled. "Last I checked we beat the ever-living shit out of them as well."

"They're here for domestic violence," Kai said with a broad grin. "At least that's the rumor around campus. Care to dispute it?"

"Shut up before I beat you to death," Damon said.

"That might be scary from anyone else. From you, it's pathetic," Kai snickered. "Your girlfriend beat you up and she's tiny."

"Well she did have a baseball bat," Rebekah said and laughed.

Bonnie wondered exactly what the Originals had done with her claims. It was clear they had done something and it involved Kol's bat, but she itched to learn the details.

"And he beat her up first," Kol drawled. "Pathetic as well."

"Shut up," Damon growled. "Both my girls are here. Almost like old times, isn't that so, Kat? Maybe we could go behind the stacks and well you know..."

Bonnie studied Katherine's expression. It was the oddest look almost vulnerable and Bonnie didn't think she had ever seen anything quite like it on Katherine before. To be perfectly honest, she hadn't believed anything could phase Katherine. Worse still, was Katherine had turned a sickly shade of green. She looked as if she might throw up at any moment.

"Stay away from me or I will kill you," Katherine said.

Katherine was on her feet and headed toward Rebekah. She swung herself lightly on top of a bookshelf. She watched Damon with distrustful eyes.

"You as much as look at her wrong and the Originals will kill you and everyone, you have ever met," Kol said lightly with a cheery smile.

Kai grabbed the box the monks had left them with food. He pulled out a bag of pork rinds and a Zima. He started munching loudly and Bonnie found that even more annoying than all of the death threats and posturing taking place.

"You know it's one box per detention, do you not?" Rebekah said and eyed Kai.

"Yeah, and if I don't get something to eat, I will starve to death," Kai announced.

"I see no problem with that scenario," Rebekah said with a grin.

Kai rolled his eyes.

Kol's eyes lit up and a mischievous smile played on his lips. With his ruffled hair he looked like a little boy, who was about to get in a lot of trouble.

"Why do you look like that?" Bonnie asked.

She was used to getting by on less food, but since she arrived at King's she had started to put some of her weight back on. She wasn't eager to go hungry again.

"You know how the monks confiscate anything they find?"

"Yeah," Bonnie said thinking how in some ways it was good she didn't have much to confiscate.

"Well there is a school wide rumor that it is all stored in a vault somewhere on the fifth floor."

Bonnie nodded. That wasn't exactly surprising. Her old school had been chock-full of urban myths too. Everything from the principal sold crack on the side to the lunch lady was sleeping with the captain of the football team. Then there were the truly wild ones like that the school was built on native burial ground and it was haunted. She didn't see why this fabled room was any more real than any of those things.

"And you think there's what there? Food? Booze?"

"Certainly and more," Kol said with a smirk. "All we need to do is find a way. Preferably one where the monks don't spot us."

"Sounds doable," Kai agreed jumping to his feet. "Katherine has snuck around this entire school like a ninja hiding from Damon and Klaus so I'm guessing she has some ideas."

"I do," Katherine said. "But I'm not convinced it's worth risking more time in detention for."

"You never get caught," Kai protested.

"It's not me I'm worried about," Katherine said and shot them all an arrogant look.

"What are you scared? Because Bonster here doesn't look scared. Are you scared, cutie?" Kai winked at her.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Mostly I'm just bored."

Kol and Kai laughed.

"You idiots can suck my dick. Elena and I are staying here," Damon announced.

"Good because you're not invited," Katherine said.

"Oh, you're so tough with your protectors here," Damon sneered looking from Rebekah to Kol. "But when it's just you and me, Kitty Kat – well that's a whole other story. Or had you forgotten?"

"Can we kill him or at least gag him?" Bonnie asked in a muttered breath.

Kol glanced in her direction and choked back a laugh. "Fine by me."

"The boys won't fit through a vent," Rebekah said. "So I hope you have a better plan than crawling around."

"There are some tunnels this way," Katherine said. She jumped off the bookcase as lightly as she had climbed up. She started walking through the stacks of books. Bonnie, Kai, Rebekah and Kol all followed. "The monks think they're all blocked off, but they missed one tunnel."

Bonnie watched in amazement as Katherine pushed aside a bookcase. It took her some effort, but after a couple of seconds a dusty old tunnel became visible. It was dark, but with the light from the library Bonnie could just make out stone walls.

"What is this place?"

"My guess?" Katherine said with a shrug. "It's where the monks used to torture disobedient students."

Kol rolled his eyes. "It appears to be the foundation of the building that was here before King's. Likely they built right over it."

"Oh," Bonnie said. "Looks haunted."

"Probably is," Kai agreed with a broad smile and another wink. "Follow me children."

Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"Want to hold my hand, beautiful?" Kol held his hand out to her.

Bonnie snorted and walked ahead of him. Katherine looked as if she was already halfway down the tunnel, but it was hard to tell in the darkness. Rebekah was keeping pace with Kai and Bonnie suspected it was because Rebekah didn't trust what he would think of next.

Kol stayed behind her, but a quick glance over her shoulder before it grew too dark to see revealed he wasn't far away. When they reached the darkest part of the tunnel Bonnie discovered she couldn't see as much as a foot in front of her.

"Are you sure you know where we're going, Katherine?"

"Ye, have little faith," Katherine said with a tinkling laugh. "We have to go around the first floor or underneath it. It doesn't matter. Just brace yourself for a walk in the dark, alright?"

Bonnie rubbed her arm. She glanced around anxiously even though she still couldn't see anything. She never had been a big fan of the dark. After that night she was even less eager to be in the dark. Making it even worse was all of the nights she had spent camped out under bridges and in pitch black tunnels just trying to stay alive. It wasn't the dark that bothered her so much as the idea of who could be lurking there. Who knew what sort of psycho would jump out at her?

A warm hand brushed hers. Kol wrapped his fingers around hers. She should have been startled, but instinctively she knew it was him. It made her smile and she was tempted to let him hold her hand, but now wasn't the time for romance. She tugged her hand loose. Kol chuckled and she resisted the temptation to elbow him.

Katherine led them through what felt like an endlessly long tunnel in darkness. It wasn't until much later that a light in the distance became visible.

"Everyone stay quiet, we're right above the gym," Katherine whispered.

"I know it's tough for you to shut up, Kai," Rebekah sneered. "But do us all a favor and shut it."

Bonnie laughed in spite of herself. Kai stopped walking and she crashed straight into his back. A hand on her shoulder pulled her back and it took her a second to realize it was Kol.

Kai whirled around furious. "Think that's funny, do you, Bonster?"

"Yeah. I was trapped in a room with you for days. I know better than anyone how much you love the sound of your own voice."

"Why don't you come a little closer and I'll show you what this mouth can do?" Kai said lowering his voice to an intimate whisper.

Bonnie moved backward as if burned.

Kol acted so fast Bonnie barely registered it. In the one second Kai was standing in front of her and in the next, he was lying on the ground. Kol had slammed his head against the wall. Apparently, he didn't need his bat to be dangerous. That was good information to have. Bonnie wondered whether or not it was worth passing along to Marcel. It would give Kol a chance at surviving their attack, but if he lived and worked everything out, she was dead. And that was if she was _lucky_.

"What did you do that for?" Rebekah asked.

"Oh, great now we're going to spend the weekend locked in a room with a pissed off Kai," Katherine complained.

"Felt like it," Kol said with a shrug.

"Did you kill him?" Bonnie asked kicking Kai lightly with the tip of her shoe. Her mind was elsewhere, but she knew she needed to keep up the façade. She had no ulterior motives behind getting to know Kol.

Absolutely none.

"What do you care?" Kol retorted.

"I don't," Bonnie said. "Just trying to work out if you want to be expelled or not."

All the while she was aiming for a light tone, Bonnie was saddled with the uncomfortable knowledge that Kol had done this because he was jealous. That was both good and bad. Good because it meant her mission was on track. Bad because she didn't want Kol to have those kinds of feelings for her. They were dangerous to him. And he had no idea.

It felt more and more like she was sinking to a new low. A low she hadn't even known she was capable of reaching.

"He was on my nerves. That's a dangerous place to be, beautiful."

Coming from anyone else, Bonnie might have taken that as a threat. Instead, the low whisper he spoke in sent a shiver down her spine.

"It's through here," Katherine said. "We can pick Kai up on our way back."

"Fine by me," Rebekah agreed.

"Just remember be quiet."

Bonnie watched as Katherine scaled a rickety-ladder that led to the light she had seen in the distance. Rebekah followed and finally it was Bonnie's turn. Kol put his hands on her hips. His touch was light, but she could feel his warmth through her clothes and it was scorching. He lifted her as if she weighed nothing and she found herself at the top of the ladder. His fingers brushed along her skirt and down her legs. His hands were rough and she blushed.

"Thank you," Bonnie mumbled and pulled her legs far out of his reach.

"I would say you are welcome however, it is I am, who am grateful for the view, beautiful."

Bonnie scrambled over the edge.

It was right above the gym. Bonnie found herself on a closed off hallway high above the gym. It was filled with dust and cobwebs, it didn't look as if anyone had been up here for years. She snuck a peak over the ledge and saw a group of Nightwalkers were doing a private practice session. She recognized the moves as some of the more advanced ones Isobel taught.

Bonnie walked quietly staying behind Rebekah and Katherine. She didn't dare fall behind nor did she get too close. At the same time, she was trying to keep some physical distance between herself and Kol. Kol on the other hand, seemed to be doing everything he could to brush up against her whenever the chance arose. If he didn't stop soon, she was going to snap. Too much touching put her on edge. Even if it was Kol.

Strange, he hadn't had that effect on her before. Maybe it was after they almost kissed last night.

Yes, that was it. The encounter had left her on edge. Kol hadn't pushed for more, not even a real kiss after she withdrew, but it reminded her if she was going to go through with this, he would touch her. It had been easier before when she could snuggle up to him or get close because she wanted to. Because there was a part of her that still craved touch.

But Kol had turned the tables on her. He had made a move for more than she was ready for. She'd never even been kissed by a boy before.

"You alright there, little witch?" Kol asked in such a quiet voice she wouldn't have heard him if she hadn't been right next to him.

She faked a smile. "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"If it's because I kissed you, I'm sorry."

Kol reached for her shoulder and she took a step back.

"It's fine. Just – just don't touch me. I don't like it."

"When I touch you or when people in general touch you?" Kol asked with a teasing smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Right now? Both."

"Bonnie -"

"Look, after what I learned about my attackers last night, it's all I can think about."

Kol raised both hands. "Alright, I get it. One escaped and what little peace you had is gone."

Bonnie nodded. That was only half the problem. The other half was that she didn't think she could do things she'd never done before like kiss a boy when it was all a lie. The thought that she might have to do a lot more than just kiss him for this to work soured her stomach.

"Are you two coming?" Rebekah asked in a furious whisper. She was through the door on the other side of the walkway. "That's not exactly an ideal place to stop for a shag, I'll have you know."

Bonnie turned a deep shade of red. Without looking at Kol she scurried after his sister.

This hallway was a part of the school she had never been in before. It looked as empty as the walkway. Katherine led them up a back stairwell. It looked like an old cathedral and Bonnie looked around the winding staircase with the stain glass windows in fascination.

They had just reached the fifth floor when a loud bang sounded. Katherine let out a high-pitched scream and fell back. Rebekah barely caught her before she fell. Then as if realizing what she was doing, Rebekah shoved Katherine forward. Katherine stumbled, but managed to stay on her feet. Bonnie wasn't sure how because she was freaking out herself.

Footsteps sounded and soon as a group of unfamiliar men stood in front of them. They were all dressed in black and there was no mistaking the bulges inside of their suit jackets. They were armed.

Bonnie and the others froze.

**Thank you so much for reading reviewing! They almost kissed, but not quite, yikes! What did you think of this chapter? I'm fireismyelement97 on tumblr. **

**\- Izzy**

**Guest: Thank you so much! **

**Guest: Thanks! I am so thrilled the chapter wasn't a letdown after the wait. I hope this one wasn't either.**


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